The Paradox Girl
by DiaDuitCluaiste
Summary: CH1-18 : The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive on Domicilia. Who will they find there? CH19-31 : The Doctor travels linearly. What complications ensue? - My 1st DWFF; please be nice-ish! WARNING: Mild language etc. 11/River based.
1. Domicilia

Stepping out of the TARIS, sporting a rather fetching sombrero and sunglasses, the Doctor threw his arms in the air triumphantly.

"Mexi… co?" he cried, his voice faltering as he looked around him. Amy and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS behind him.

"This doesn't look like Mexico." She stated, flicking his hat in irritation. Scowling, the Doctor tightly gripped onto the edges of his newest fashion anomaly and backed away from her.

"That's probably because it's not." Rory said in exasperation, "Doctor, where are we this time?" Pulling off his sunglasses and shoving them unceremoniously onto the top of his hat, the Doctor looked around.

They were stood on what looked like a suburban street corner. The houses were generously spaced and clearly belonged to the more affluent families, their white picket fences and clean concrete drives reflecting the sunlight as money reflects material wealth. Across the street and to the right there was a children's play park, surrounded by flawless green grass. Parents sat on benches, making polite conversation as their children played contently. Young couples lay on the earth, basking in the rays of crystal clear light. The sky above them was such a vivid blue that it gave the impression that the whole world was in a bubble.

The Doctor breathed in deeply. He could smell… pears. Definitely pears. He convulsed slightly at the thought of such a fruit. But there was something else. The air was so pure, so… perfect. But at the back of his mind the Doctor could have sworn he smelt something that was out of place.

"Something's wrong…" he muttered to himself. Closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose, he tried to focus on it.

Soon he felt a gentle tap on the shoulder.

"Aren't you going to tell us where we are?" Amy whispered loudly in his ear.

"Domicilia, near the end of the fiftieth century." The Doctor replied, opening his eyes and whirling around to face his friends. He grinned childishly, hiding his doubts, "This is the very first human colony to have survived off Earth, hence the name Domicilia."

"Domicilia?" Rory asked.

"Latin for 'new home'." The Doctor said. He was determined to find out what his tingling timey-wimey, pear-hating senses were picking up. Never ignore a coincidence. Or was it, never ignore your instincts? Either way, he was going to stay until he found out what that smell was. Focusing on the confused pair before him, the Doctor continued, "Let's explore, shall we?"

"While you're wearing that hat?" Amy asked incredulously.

"Yes, while I'm wearing this hat." The Doctor answered protectively, "Sombreros are cool." As Amy rolled her eyes, he turned around and began walking off down the street, towards the park. Without checking to see if his friends were following him, the Doctor began sniffing irregularly, attempting to stimulate his thoughts.

He had smelt that smell before, a very long time ago though. But where? And when? Marching past the park, his head down and his hat tilted, the Doctor continued on his quest. By now the park was behind him and he was fast approaching the middle and lower class streets. The houses were less crystalline, but were still fairly new in appearance. They had slightly less space on either side and they looked considerably smaller than the houses further back.

Muttering to himself in frustration, he ignored the calls of Amy and Rory, focusing on his goal. Where had he smelt it? Where? Usually he could tell apart time zones simply by smell. What was wrong with him? And then, like a bitch slap from an iceberg, it hit him.

"Gallifrey…" he whispered, halting immediately in shock. He barely noticed Amy's lively chatter or Rory's replies constantly being interrupted by his wife. The Doctor could think of nothing more than what he had just realised: there was a Time Lord on the planet. This planet. Right now. Or at least someone of Gallifreyan descent.

Tears began to form in his eyes as an unusually large surge of emotion flooded over him. He was confused, ecstatic, and alarmed, all at once. But mainly alarmed. Surely if another of his kind had survived the Great Time War he would have felt it. He was certain, in his heart, he would have been able to tell. Time Lords had active telepathic sensors in their brains. They could tell if another of their kind was nearby, nearby, for Time Lords, meaning within the galaxy. It was a bit like telepathic Facebook; when someone was online, they would appear on the list. The more the Doctor contemplated the situation, the more his fear dominated every other emotion. But curiosity still bubbled away in the background. If another Time Lord still lived, it was his duty to find them.


	2. Paradox Place

"Doctor? Doctor, are you OK?" Amy asked, bounding to stand right in his eye line. Unable to avoid answering the question, he looked at her and smiled.

"I'm fine." He lied. She frowned, not looking at all convinced. The shock had thrown his magnificent powers of deceit way out of whack and he could tell that she could see right through him. Pulling his hat down further over his eyes he marched off in the same direction he was heading before his epiphany. He sniffed loudly and closed his eyes, using only the scent to guide him. Now would be a great time for an Inspector Clouseau style moustache. And hat. The Doctor cursed inwardly. Why had he chosen the sombrero?

Taking a sudden right, the Doctor heard the surprised scuffles of Amy and Rory as they noticed his change of direction. He crossed the road, not even bothering to look. It was the fiftieth century. The cars had inbuilt life form detectors that made them automatically stop as soon as someone or something was its way. Provided it was alive. The technology was a little useless, to be honest. For example, your car would stop if a leaf was in the road, but not if you were heading straight for a brick wall. Still, it was early days for advanced human knowhow.

The Doctor now found himself in a narrow backstreet, ironically named "Paradox Place". In fact, it was more of an alley. There was only enough room for about two people to walk side-by-side before they came into contact with the rough brick wall. These chest high walls lined the path way, breaking for a gate every six or seven metres. A short flight of steps then lead up to the gloomy door way. It felt like an empty central London street, the kind that you would walk through quickly on a cold, dark night before you ended up in a mutilated heap. Probably in a ditch in Gloucester.

About half way down the fifty metre stretch of alley, the Doctor began to pause at every gate, sniffing the air. He was getting close, he could smell it. About four gates from the end, the Doctor came to a halt completely.

"What?" he cried out. It was gone. The smell was gone. Completely, totally and utterly gone.

"Doctor? What's wrong?" Amy asked. The Doctor whirled around to face her, still at quite a loss.

"It's gone." He stated, as if she should have known.

"What's gone?" Rory said, looking to and from his wife and the Doctor.

"The smell. It's just… gone." The Doctor replied, looking up to the sky and the roofs of the terraced houses around them, in vain hope that there might be some kind of neon sight to point him in the right direction, or to give him an explanation of some sort. No such luck. Didn't people use neon signs anymore?

"What smell?" Rory asked, wrinkling his nose. The Doctor looked back down his friends, realising that his demand for answers was, perhaps, a little unrealistic.

"The smell. Couldn't you smell it?" he retorted anxiously, fiddling with his fingers as he jumped up and down on the spot, hoping for another revelation. Rory and Amy looked to one another slowly, sharing a worried glance before turning back to the Doctor.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Amy asked dubiously, "You seem a bit… disturbed." The Doctor paused his jumping momentarily to frown at her.

"When haven't I been?" he replied, she opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as he cried out suddenly, "Ah ha!"

Running through the gate to his right, the Doctor bounded up the steps and began licking the door.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Amy exclaimed, following him to the door.

"Here! It was coming from here!" he shouted in gleeful triumph, pressing his ear to the door and running his hands over the wood.

"What was coming from here?" Rory asked, as he trudged half-heartedly up the steps, clearly fed-up of the Doctor's antics. The Doctor stopped his door-fondling and turned to look at them.

"The smell! Were you not listening at all?" he asked in annoyance. Amy ignored him.

"How do you know it came from here if you can't smell it anymore?" she asked.

"I have special tingly timey-wimey senses." He replied indifferently. She simply raised an eyebrow at him. Shaking his head, he continued, "Oh, you wouldn't understand." Turning back to the door in front of them he leant his ear against it and resumed his stroking.

"What is this 'smell' anyway?" Rory muttered, sitting on the wall.

"I don't know," The Doctor replied, still fingering the peeling emerald paint, "But it's coming from here."

"It's coming from the door?" Amy asked, stepping closer to inspect it, crinkling her nose slightly. The Doctor closed his eyes, trying his best not to scream, or slap someone in the face. As much as he liked travelling with human friends, he couldn't help but want to kill them occasionally. It was at times like this that the difference in intelligence levels became very apparent. He would be very glad to have a Time Lord companion once more, if he could even find this anomaly.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor glanced at Amy.

"No, it's coming from behind the door." He retorted impatiently.

"Oh." She said, stepping back a bit, "What's behind the door?" Rolling his eyes, the Doctor yanked himself away from the wood.

"I. Don't. Know." He said slowly and carefully. Evidently noticing the sudden change in the Time Lord's demeanour, Amy and Rory both cringed away from him and Rory slid sheepishly off the wall, his bored expression quickly fading. The Doctor smiled at the power he now had over them, "Let's find out, shall we?" Without waiting for a reply from his friends, he spun around to face the door. He raised his hand and knocked loudly. Once, twice, thrice. They waited.

By now, the Doctor's hearts were gently pounding against his rib cage. He rubbed his hands together in excitement. In a few minutes time he could be reacquainted with an old friend. Or an old enemy. Shaking his head, the Doctor focused on the hope of finding a kindred spirit. At last he wouldn't be alone. All those years of feeling isolated from the world, from the universe, even, would be over.

Advancing footsteps caused both of his hearts to stop at once. He heard the lock turn as cold sweat began to form on his neck. The door opened.

"Doctor?"


	3. A TARDIS Blue Photo Frame

The Doctor blinked.

"River?" he cried incredulously. The curly haired woman before him looked just as shocked.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor said, completely ignoring her question.

"I live here." She stated. He shook his head in disbelief.

"No you don't. You live all over time and space! Not in a… house." He retorted, disgusted and repulsed by the thought of a domestic lifestyle. Sticking his head through the door, the Doctor looked around.

He couldn't see much through the gloom. Straight ahead, opposite the front door, was a steep staircase. To the right of it was a narrow passageway, dimly lit, but bright enough to walk through without having to squint too much. Suddenly intrigued by the mysterious light at the other end, the Doctor pushed past River and walked slowly down the hallway, running his fingers along the walls.

"Do come in." he heard River call sarcastically after him. The Doctor simply waved his hand dismissively in her direction. As the door shut behind Amy and Rory, he noted that it didn't cause as much darkening as shutting the door of a house in a well-lit street would have. The walls were made of a rough material. No, scratch that. They had been painted, but very badly. The black paint was splattered carelessly onto the walls, the bubbles in each coat causing the coarse feel. The dark colour absorbed any light thrust upon it hungrily, just like the white paint of the first houses reflected it. In the same way that the bigger houses were designed to be noticed, these houses were clearly designed to be ignored. Not really surprising. Humanity never really changed much; the government always tried to hide the lower classes.

He passed a door, but continued to the end of the passage until he came to the kitchen. Walking through the cramped space, he found himself in a dining room. Looking around, he realised it was a dead end.

"Satisfied?" River asked.

"No." the Doctor replied, "Who else is here?"

"What?" she asked.

"Who else is here?" he repeated, pointing to the table. The table, although designed to seat six people, was set out for a meal for two. He looked around. River stuttered.

"No one. I…" she started. He looked at her expectantly. Suddenly her face hardened, "I think you should leave."

The Doctor laughed in fake amusement.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said bluntly, approaching her slowly and tilting his hat menacingly, "Not until I find out what, or who, you're hiding from me."

"And you honestly believe that I'm going to take you seriously while you're wearing that." She said in sarcastic confidence, indicating to his sombrero, "I may be living in a house, but that doesn't mean that I don't have a gun on me." Scowling, he took off his sombrero and held it tightly to his chest. He didn't want River shooting this hat off. She smiled at his expression and began ushering Amy and Rory, who had been watching the scene before them in confusion, into the room that they had passed on their way to the kitchen.

It turned out that it was River's living room. Probably a better place to look in if searching for clues. Once in the room, Amy and Rory sat down on the sofa to the left of the door. The Doctor peered around. It was, again, quite a small and dim room, lit solely by the hazy light of the lamp hanging from the ceiling. The walls in here were a dark sort of cream colour as they were in the kitchen, a nice contrast to the black of the hall way and the street outside. He closed the door behind him to get a better picture of the whole room. The wall behind Amy and Rory was pretty clear, bar a few hanging photos of other worlds: New Earth, Skaro and even a dated sketch of the Lost Moon of Poosh. Regarding those with little interest, the Doctor moved to look at the wall opposite the Ponds. Molecular diagrams, building plans and lengthy equations were draw onto it, some directly onto the paint, others written first onto paper, and then pinned up. He studied these for a while whilst Amy, Rory and River made small talk. He then moved onto the most interesting looking wall, opposite the door.

A large bookcase covered the majority of it, its dark cedar wood rough and unvarnished. On one of the shelves were pictures. A few were of Amy and Rory, one or two of them with the Doctor. A fair few were of River, both as a child and as an adult. The ones that interested the Doctor most were of a young-adult River, often pictured with a little girl, her age varying from photo to photo. As he moved from left to right across them, the Doctor stopped. He gingerly picked up the photograph in front of him. It was in a proud, TARDIS-blue frame.

He swallowed loudly. The picture was of River, the girl and himself. They were sat in what looked like the park, the one he had passed by earlier. The little girl, aged about seven or eight, was sat on the Doctor's lap. The Doctor brushed off some of the dust that had formed in a thin layer over the glass and began stroking the frame, still gazing at the picture within it. Their legs were stretched out before them and the Doctor was holding a book in his hand, giving the impression he was reading it out loud. The little girl's loose, messy curls hung in a chocolate-coloured mop across her face, which he was using his other hand to hold back, as she looked with great curiosity at what was on the open page. River sat cross-legged beside them, just watching contently, with a warm smile on her face.

"Who's this?" the Doctor asked suddenly and accusingly, interrupting the conversation going on behind him. River got up from the armchair that she had been sitting in and moved to look over his shoulder. As she realised what he was looking at she roughly pulled it from his hands. He looked at her in mild shock and rather a lot more confusion as she put the photograph back on the shelf, gently caressing the little girl's face. Without giving him an answer, she sat back down in her chair, so that she was adjacent to Amy and Rory's sofa. The Doctor watched her incredulously and carelessly, yet undeniably skilfully, tossed his hat onto the coat stand between the book case and the sofa.

"River-" he started.

"Sit down." She ordered, cutting him off. He just stared at her disbelievingly until she indicated to the chair across from her, against the doodle-wall. Slowly, he sat down, not taking his eyes off River. She didn't seem in the least bit uncomfortable, only increasingly annoyed. It probably wasn't a sensible thing to do, irritate River, but the Doctor hated the fact that not only had he not solved his original mystery, but he now had another one on his hands. Giving him a rather filthy look, she addressed him, "I've been trying to find out from Amy and Rory what you're doing here, and all that they can tell me is that you kept going on about some sort of smell. What-"

"A timey-wimey smell." The Doctor replied, before she could even ask her question.

"A timey-wimey smell?" River repeated doubtfully. The Doctor smirked slightly, pleased that, for once, it seemed like he knew more than she did.

"A Time Lord." He continued, "I could smell a Time Lord. Here. On this planet." He made a mental note of her reaction. Her eyes widened briefly before she managed to control her expression.

"A Time Lord? On Domicilia?" she asked, "I don't think so. My scanners would have picked that kind of energy up." The Doctor shook his head gently.

"No they wouldn't have." He retorted, before adding pointedly, "This one's been hidden well for a long time." He tilted his head slightly and watched her.

"Don't look at me like that." She snapped suddenly, "You don't think I would let you know if there was another of your kind here? You don't think that you would be the first person I notified if I made such a discovery."

"No." the Doctor replied simply. She scowled at him, causing him to add offhandedly as he twiddled his thumbs, "You have your priorities, I understand that. There are things that I should never know until I find them out for myself." He looked up from his hands, his voice darkening suddenly, "But this is way out of your league, River Song. Never try to hide something like this from me. Ever."

After a few seconds of studying his face, River smiled.

"You're right." She said, catching the Doctor so off-guard that he couldn't help but look stunned, "And you're about to find everything out for yourself. You just need to be patient."

Patient? He hated that word and everything it stood for. Drat.


	4. Meeting Merripen

**Note to readers: Just to make it clear, Amy and Rory do know about who River is. So if you haven't seen AGMGTW, what are you doing here? Also, if you don't like the whole Doctor/River Song relationship you should probably jog on, because the majority of this fanfiction is based on them! On a final note, thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story! It's really nice to know that people like what I'm doing. But please, if you are going to review, sign in - I like to send my thanks to the reviewer. What a nice person I am. And now that exams are pretty much done I shall dedicate my time to this fanfiction. I hope you enjoy the next chapter and, until we meet/you read what I've written again, cheerio!**

As he glared at the woman sitting across from him, the Doctor sunk lower into his chair.

"You look like a child who's just been told to go to bed on Christmas Eve." River laughed. The Doctor tried to suppress a smile, rather unsuccessfully, at the truthful comparison. If there was one thing he couldn't resist, it was River's smile. He saw it so rarely that it was always a splendid sight whenever he did. He couldn't help but fall a little more in love with her every time she smiled. It was going to kill him when, one day, she would look into his eyes and she wouldn't have a clue who he was. It was going to kill him the same way he had seen it kill her. He could only hope that it wouldn't kill him quite so literally.

"You're horrible to me." he retorted childishly, pouting as he gave into her contagious smile. Washing over his depressing thoughts, the Doctor continued, "How soon will I find out then, clever clogs?"

"I don't know." she said, grinning as his face fell, "I was lying. All I know is that the last time I saw you, and the next time you see me, you were as happy as ever." The Doctor grinned in contentment.

Suddenly, there was a fumbling at the door. The room went silent as all four of them stopped talking and listened as they heard the clang of keys being dropped on the doorstep, and a voice quietly cursing as they were picked back up with a jangle. The Doctor looked to River, whose face was beginning to show visible signs of panic and guilt. There was the characteristic noise of the door unlocking, then a creak as it opened. They waited in anticipation as the door banged shut again and the keys were hung up on their peg on the wall.

But the Doctor didn't take his eyes off River. She squirmed uncomfortably and her legs twitched as if she were itching to get up. A loud and sudden thump echoed from the hallway, shortly followed by a cry of pain. For a while the entire house went silent.

"Mum?" came the uncertain call from behind the living room door. Amy and Rory turned to look at River as she closed her eyes in shame. Even though the Doctor had been expecting it, his hearts still faltered as she hung her head and replied.

"In the living room." she called out, lifting her head as to be heard clearly. There was a scuffling and the sound of approaching footsteps before the door was thrown open.

As soon as she stepped into the room, the Doctor recognised her. It was the little girl from the photograph. But she wasn't a little girl anymore. Judging by her height and build, the Doctor would have estimated that she was about sixteen or seventeen, perhaps a little older. Her hair was still a wild mane of loose curls, maybe longer, and just a shade darker, whether due to age or the poor lighting, he couldn't tell. She was in some form of school uniform, wearing a navy skirt and matching blazer, a white blouse and a black jumper. Her old-fashioned school satchel hung from her shoulder and she looked around with wide blue eyes. As soon as she noticed the Doctor, she grinned widely.

"Doctor!" she cried in child-like mirth, moving further into the room to greet him. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to him that she knew who he was, but still he jumped up in shock and looked around for answers. In sudden realisation, the girl's face fell and she spoke again, her voice layered with pain, "You don't know who I am, do you?" The Doctor shook his head sadly.

"Sorry." he said, unable to find any reasonable words of comfort. She nodded, forcing a small, sad smile.

"You warned me this day would come." she began, her voice catching on her words, "I guess I just never really believed you." Her lip wobbled slightly as she looked to the floor, trying to stop herself from crying. The Doctor's arm automatically yearned to stretch out and comfort her, a feeling he didn't quite understand, seeing as he didn't even know this girl. The strange thing was, he felt like he did. He hadn't felt like that when he had met River for the first time. So why did he with this girl? What was so special about her?

River stood up and wrapped her arm empathetically around the girl's shoulder and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Why don't you go and make yourself a cup of tea. I'll have dinner ready by six tonight, so you can go out for a few hours if you want." she said, in experienced motherly comfort. The girl nodded and turned away, acknowledging Amy and Rory as she left the room. River looked to the Doctor, "You didn't have to upset her like that."

"She asked. I don't lie." he retorted coldly. Realising how harsh his comment must have seemed he continued, "I'm sorry." River nodded. The room went silent for a while as River sat back down in her chair. But soon the Doctor couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

"Who is she?" he asked, forcing himself not to sound too urgent. River's eyes flickered around a bit as she tried to avoid the Doctor's piercing eyes, "River…"

"Didn't you hear her?" she said finally. The Doctor shrugged, "She's my daughter." He nodded. He knew that. And he also knew that River was simply avoiding the more important question.

"Who's her father?" he asked. He almost didn't want an answer. How could he take it if she'd had a child by another man? And how could he take it if the girl was his? River smiled her signature smile. He knew what was coming next.

"Spoilers." She replied. The Doctor felt like ramming his head into a wall. Damn that word. Damn that word to the pits of the intergalactic mines of Emrane. And that was not a pleasant place to be, as he very well knew from experience. He rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth as he slumped back down into his chair. As he looked away from River in disappointment and disgust, he could have sworn he saw her expression fall. But when he looked darkly to her, she only turned away as Amy began to speak.

"Hold up." She said, sitting forward, "If she's your daughter, and you're our daughter, then that means that she's mine and Rory's granddaughter!" River laughed.

"Yes she is." She said simply. The Doctor couldn't help but smile as he looked at the Ponds' reactions. Well, Rory's reaction mainly. If reaction was even the right word to explain his facial expression. To be honest, it hadn't even changed. It seemed he was taking a while to process the information. Understandable, seeing as neither of them were old enough to have a teenage daughter, let alone a teenage granddaughter. The Doctor looked to Amy as she mouthed the phrase "I'm a grandmother". Slowly but surely, her shock changed to a smile.

"That's actually amazing." She said. Rory did a comical double take as he realised what his wife had just said.

"What." He said flatly. But, as per usual, he was simply ignored. Amy laughed as she leant over and hugged River tightly, repeatedly whispering "Oh wow".

As he began to get the feeling that he was intruding on some form of heart-warming family reunion, the Doctor stood up and wandered quietly over to the door.

"I'm just going to go and… you know…" he muttered, well aware that no one really cared what he was doing. As he looked back over to the sofa, the Doctor was met with a pleading look from Rory. Shrugging his shoulders in mock apology, he quickly exited the room before he could be called back in again. Once he was in the hallway, and the living room door was shut behind him, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. As he heard the conversation start up again he smiled sadly and wandered down the corridor towards the kitchen.

It was yet another reason he hated travelling with humans. They could be so… domestic. Despite the fact that he regularly resisted the domesticity of his companions, the Doctor couldn't help but feel jealous at times. Jealous that they always had someone to go home to. Jealous that, at the end of the day, they had some form of safety net. He didn't have any of that. Not anymore. He'd thrown it away with the press of a button: that big, red button that you're always told not to press, but you do anyway. If it had been a film, the big, red button would have been the big, green button in disguise. Perhaps it was. But it never felt like it. Especially not at times like this.

A gentle clattering noise from the kitchen drew his attention from his thoughts as the Doctor entered the small room. The young girl was stood by a kitchen counter, stretching to reach a cup on the back of the top shelf.

"Let me." The Doctor said, reaching up easily, and chivalrously handing it to her. She took it from him thankfully.

"It must have been pushed to the back by accident." She commented. He smiled quickly, more interested in the writing on the cup.

"That's Gallifreyan." He said, indicating to the china in her hand.

"Yes. I painted it in school when I was five." She said, smiling as she traced the letters, "I was given a reprimand and my teacher told me I mustn't write in a made-up language."

"It says 'hello sweetie'." He said, almost disbelievingly.

"Mum taught me." The girl laughed. The Doctor grinned. Trust River, "It was the only thing I knew how to write at the time, apart from my name." He paused for a second, suddenly embarrassed as he realised the mistake he had made.

"I never asked; what is your name?" he said sheepishly.

"Merripen." She replied, "Merry for short." The Doctor nodded, desperately refraining from making a comment. Only River would give her daughter such a diverse name. The poor girl must have been bullied like hell. Of course, to him it wasn't weird. It was quite a common middle name on Gallifrey, often given to a 'miracle' child, or one whom was considered special to their family. So, naturally, the name was bestowed on many Gallifreyan children.

"What does it mean to you?" he asked. To any normal person that would have seemed an odd question. But Merry only smiled and replied.

"Mum always tells me that I'm special, and I'm not like everyone else." She said, "But the real reason is that I should never have been born."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, sitting on the counter as she filled a rather retro kettle with water from the tap.

"I can't really say." She answered, rolling her eyes when his face fell, "Don't look like that. You should be used to this whole 'timey-wimey' thing by now."

"That doesn't make it any less-" he started childishly, stopping when what she'd just said registered with him, "Wait a minute, did you just say 'timey-wimey'?" She frowned, putting the kettle onto the stove.

"Well, yes." She said plainly, "What's wrong with that?"

"I say timey-wimey." He replied protectively.

"I know." Merry said, leaning back against the counter opposite him, "I guess I must've picked it up from you."

The Doctor didn't reply. He was beginning to get a horrible sinking feeling, right down to the bottom of his stomach. He had a horrible suspicion that he knew who this girl was. In some ways, he hoped he was right, in other ways, he hoped he wasn't. She tipped her head on the side as she watched him frown. If she was the Time Lord he could smell, why couldn't he now that they were standing a few metres apart? And why had she suddenly vanished off his 'radar'? The Doctor rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes in pain. Great. Now he was starting to get a headache. That almost never happened. And when it did, it felt like an entire planet imploding in his brain. But Clouseau would never let a headache stop him from solving a mystery, the Doctor thought, so neither would he.


	5. Man Talk

**Note to readers: My apologies if my last comment seemed harsh; I didn't mean it to be. What I was trying to say is that, this is complicated. Rory and Amy know who River is, but this is before they have the baby. I know, wierd. So it's sort of after AGMGTW, but also before it. Hopefully you understand me. I don't. It really, truly made sense in my head. Honest it did. But never mind. Thank you again to reviewers! Enjoy this chapter! **

The Doctor was concentrating so hard on keeping his brains within his skull, that he barely noticed Merry as she tipped the hot water into the cup, tossing a tea-bag in on top. She silently approached him and he only really noticed her presence when she gently touched his shoulder. He looked up, his vision covered with tiny, little stars as his eyes reopened. She pressed the cup of tea into his hand.

"You're probably dehydrated." she said kindly. He jumped down and took the drink from her hands.

"Don't you want this?" he asked after muttering his thanks.

"No. I was only making it to make Mum happy. She has this sort of 'syndrome' where everything is fixed by a cup of tea. It's a bit like her version of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'." Merry said, "Though, maybe not in your case."

"No." he said, carefully sipping the hot liquid, "In my case it's 'a pear a day keeps the Doctor away'."

"Ah, yes. Pears..." she said thoughtfully, as she moved to the counter and picked a juicy, green pear from the fruit bowl. The Doctor watched in horror as she bit into it.

"What are you doing?" he stuttered, putting the hot mug onto the kitchen counter and backing away as she advanced towards him slowly.

"I'm only eating a pear." she said, innocently batting her eyelids.

"Why would you do such a thing?" he said. She grinned and suddenly lunged at him, trying to rub the awful fruit in his face, "Merry! No, Merry, no!" She laughed as he ducked and dodged past her, but she only tackled him again, this time pushing him against the counter. She had a counter-move to everything that he did. She clearly knew him very well...

There was a clattering noise as Amy and Rory, led by River, came running into the room.

"What's happening?" River asked, looking in confusion at the scene.

"Pears! Pears!" the Doctor cried, using the distraction to dodge past Merry and stand quivering next to the girl's mother, not taking his eyes off the fruit, "Merry was attacking me with pears!" River sighed in exasperation, marched over to her daughter, who was looking as innocent as ever, and pulled the pear from her hand.

"You're scared of a fruit?" she asked incredulously.

"Not scared, just mildly repulsed." the Doctor retorted, recoiling slightly. If River was dangerous with a gun, he didn't want to know what she was capable of with a pear. River rolled her eyes and tossed the half-eaten fruit into the compost bin. The Doctor relaxed, straightening his bow-tie nonchalantly as Amy laughed at him. River turned to Merry.

"I see you've cheered up." she said.

"I'm not called Merry for nothing." the young girl retorted. River shook her head and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Go on and amuse yourself before you start to irritate me." she said mockingly. Merry smiled and exited the room, grabbing her school bag from the counter as she left. The Doctor, naturally, gave her a wide berth.

"You were trying to bond with her, I take it?" River said sarcastically.

"Why would I do that?" the Doctor asked. She only shook her head in response.

"Never mind." She muttered, shooing him away from her kitchen, saying, "You three go off and explore the neighbourhood while I get dinner going."

"I'll stay and help!" Amy cried, moving to stand beside her daughter.

"Wait, so you're sending me off to go for a walk with him?" Rory asked, indicating helplessly to the bow-tie clad man standing beside him.

"Ah, rude!" the Doctor cried.

"Sure, you two can do some 'man-talk' or… whatever." Amy said brashly. The Doctor and Rory both regarded the other with suspicion.

A thought suddenly dawned on the Doctor: he could talk to Rory. OK, so they weren't the closest of friends, but wasn't that better? An unbiased opinion on the whole Merripen/River/Time Lord situation. Smiling slightly at the thought, the Doctor turned to Rory, slinging his arm around his shoulder. Rory looked at him in shock.

"Come along, Pond." The Doctor said, steering Rory out of the kitchen and straight out of the front door. Hearing Rory shut the door behind them, the Doctor slumped against the short wall, resting his forearms against the coarse brickwork. There was a silent pause.

"Doctor?" Rory asked cautiously, "Are you alright?" The Time Lord raised his head quickly, spinning around and smiling at his friend.

"Always." He replied, "Let's walk, shall we?" The Doctor spun on his heel and marched off down the alley and out into the main street. He kept up his pace until they reached the small park. He vaulted over the silver metal fence and waited as Rory did so too, rather less gracefully. They set off across the green, and kept speed-walking until they reached a deserted bench on the far side of the park. Sitting down, the Doctor leant forward, resting his forearms on his legs.

"So…" Rory said awkwardly as he sat down, "What do you want to talk about?"

"I… I don't know." The Doctor replied, closing his eyes and explaining, "My head's still aching a bit. I had a headache, back at River's."

"I thought Time Lords don't really get headaches. Well, except for pregnant ones." Rory commented. The Doctor looked to him.

"How do you know that?" he asked. Rory looked slightly guilty.

"I found the library in the TARDIS; it'd been hiding from me. I thought I would read up a bit on your people." He answered, "Seemed logical seeing as you often neglect to tell us important things."

"At what point did you think that knowing about Time Lords would be important?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, now, for starters." Rory paused, "You said you could smell a Time Lord. And it can't be River, because she's completely human, and it couldn't really be Merripen because she wasn't in the house when you said you could smell it, so-"

"I could smell the resonance." The Doctor interrupted.

"The what?" Rory asked stupidly.

"The resonance." The Doctor answered, "I wasn't actually smelling the Time Lord itself, I was smelling the… the trail it left behind. We all leave traces of our DNA on anything we touch, or anywhere we go. The… trail that I was picking up was a resent one."

"Resent meaning…?"

"Within the last five to six hours." The Doctor said, "So it could very possibly be anyone who was in that house this morning." Rory frowned. But as the Doctor looked away, sudden realisation swept across Rory's face. Quickly, it was replaced with a look of sympathy.

"You think it's Merripen, don't you." he said. The Doctor nodded, "But you don't know for sure. It could be any passing Time Lord. Perhaps there are more out there…" The Doctor shook his head furiously, trying to hold back his tears.

"There aren't, Rory. They're all gone." He growled darkly, "It has to be her."

"But you don't know that. You've been wrong in the past, who's to say that you're not wrong now?" Rory replied.

"No no no no no!" the Doctor cried, standing up and spinning to face his friend. Tears were now pouring down his face in rage, "Don't you see! Oh, Rory, don't you see?"  
>"See what?" Rory asked in a small voice, confounded by the Doctor's sudden flood of emotion.<p>

"She looks like me." The Doctor replied.

Rory looked him up and down. The Doctor could only imagine what he saw: a broken man, whose life was falling apart before his eyes. The man who had travelled beyond the edge of reality and had made it back alive. The man whose name, to many worlds, meant 'destroyer' or 'war-lord'. But to see him like this, in a complete emotional wreck; it must have made entire planets shudder. Rory's mouth opened and closed repeatedly as he searched for some words of comfort. After finding none, but clearly setting his mind on some form of action, he stood up. Slowly and cautiously, Rory approached the Doctor. Stopping when he was about half a metre away, he smiled sadly.

And with that, Rory hugged the Doctor, letting the distraught Time Lord cry pitifully into his shoulder.


	6. Let's Talk About Love

Back at the Song residence, Amy was having difficulties of her own.

"Now stir it seven times anticlockwise." River said, peering over her mother's shoulder as the red-head tried desperately to find the strength in her arms to stir the tar-like mixture. After three turns, Amy set the bowl down and wiped her forehead on the back of her hand.

"How do you do this?" she asked incredulously, forcing herself to pick up the bowl and start stirring again.

"Practice makes perfect." River replied with a smile. Amy shook her head as she leant against the counter, still mixing, and watched her daughter bustle about the kitchen preparing the main course of the meal. River was teaching Amy how to make Clootie Dumplings, a traditional Scottish desert. She was surprised to hear that Amy had never made it before and, needless to say, the Scot wasn't as skilled at cooking as her heritage may suggest. Lifting up some of the mixture with her wooden spoon, Amy turned it over, letting it fall back into the bowl with a loud thump. She sighed.

"You might want to add some water to that." River commented, looking over her shoulder as she tipped diced vegetables into a pan.

"You think?" Amy muttered, grabbing the measuring jug from the counter and slopping some water into the bowl. As she continued slowly stirring, she spoke again, "Who taught you to make this anyway?"

"You did." River said.

"Me?" Amy said, stunned momentarily. River paused, turning to face her.

"I suppose you must have taught me because I taught you." She said thoughtfully. Amy laughed.

"Look at us; we're cooking ourselves a paradox!" she chuckled. River smiled warmly and carried on with making the dinner.

Suddenly, Amy had a thought. Now that they were alone, and they weren't being distracted by the whole 'saving the world' malarkey, River would be more susceptible to spilling her 'spoilers'. Amy was desperate to know about the true nature of River's relationship with the Doctor. It wasn't that she had gone all maternal or overly-protective, although that element probably had added to her want for such knowledge, but because she was just genuinely interested, and kind of nosey.

Pursing her lips as she often did when she was up to something, Amy looked down nonchalantly as she began to speak.

"So, now that it's just us girls, let's talk about… love." She said slyly. River laughed.

"You and Dad gave me that talk when I was thirteen. A repeat really isn't necessary." She said, not turning away from her work.

"Not that kind of talk," Amy said, shivering at the thought, "I mean love." She tipped her head curiously as she noticed River pause for a fraction of a second, before continuing cooking.

"Love? What would I know about that?" she asked nonchalantly, her back still turned. Amy snorted.

"Well, you have a daughter, so I would hope you would know something about love…" She said, trailing off as River stopped moving and slowly turned to face her mother. Amy cringed, "Oh God, it wasn't a one-night-stand, was it? Please, don't tell me it was!"

"No! No, of course not!" River said in alarm, "Merry was the result of a long and… loving relationship." Amy sighed with relief.

"Well, good." She said, nodding in approval and cunningly resuming her stirring. She'd got River's attention now and Amy was pretty sure she would open up with just a little bit more encouragement, "So, who was the lucky fella?" River blushed slightly, looking away. Amy smiled. A girl blushing at the thought of a certain man was always a good sign.

"I… I can't say." River stuttered in response. Amy rolled her eyes and set the bowl down on the counter.

"Let me guess: 'spoilers'." She said in exasperation. River looked up from the floor, a child-like innocence playing across her face. She honestly looked like a little girl who was expecting, and dreading, a reprimand from her mother. Amy paused before stepping closer to her daughter, "Look, River, you can tell me. I'm your mother, remember?" River swallowed loudly. She bit her bottom lip nervously. Amy could see she was desperate to talk to someone about the feelings that she wasn't really used to hiding yet. It would probably take a while for her to grow accustomed to the fact that she knew more than almost everyone else, and become the River that Amy first met.

Eventually, River spoke.

"I think you already know who it is." She said quietly. Amy's heart leapt. She'd known for a long time, but it seemed unreal to hear it said for certain. River panicked as her mother began to smile, "You mustn't tell him! He can't know. Not yet."

"When will you stop hiding behind that excuse?" Amy asked gently, rubbing River's shoulder sympathetically.

"Never." She replied sadly. Amy sighed in motherly discontent, and hugged a now sobbing River closely.


	7. Going On Eighteen

After the Doctor had managed to stop crying, the air quickly became awkward again. But he couldn't help but feel that he and Rory had become slightly closer, even if they really hadn't wanted to. They walked in silence back to the house, trying their best not to make eye-contact, and apologising every time they bumped shoulders or their hands brushed together. After what seemed like a millennium, they reached number twelve, Paradox Place. Stopping on the doorstep, the Doctor turned to Rory.

"Well… that was… nice." He said awkwardly. Rory nodded unsurely.

"Yeah…" he agreed.

"I mean, we bonded." The Doctor added. Rory nodded furiously, "And that's always nice."

"It's good to bond." Rory said.

"Yes. Yes, it is." The Doctor said. They paused. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet as Rory scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"How about we never speak of this again?" the Doctor suggested, clapping his hands together. Rory nodded.

"Sounds good to me." He said quickly in relief. Smiling awkwardly at each other, they shook hands briefly. The Doctor then turned away to face the door and whipped out his sonic screwdriver. He buzzed it at the door, expecting to hear the lock click open. But it didn't.

"What the…" he muttered, tracing the outline of the door with the sonic and looking at the reading. He blinked furiously and cried incredulously, "There's a dead-lock seal on the front door!"

"What?" he heard Rory ask. The Doctor was about to turn and reply when the door was flung open to reveal a rather smug looking River.

"Having trouble, sweetie?" she asked teasingly. His hearts jumped a little at the sight of her, now that he was fairly sure he had figured the most part of the mystery out. But he just gritted his teeth and indicated to the door angrily.

"You have a dead-lock seal on your front door." He stated in annoyance.

"I know I do." She said plainly.

"Why?" he asked. She smiled.

"So that you would have to use the key." River said, waving the small metal tool around in front of his face. Grudgingly, he took it and, muttering under his breath in Gallifreyan, the Doctor marched into the house.

But before he had time to make it clear to everyone that he was grumpy yet again, he was hit by the smell of dinner, which, like with any man, instantly distracted him. The Doctor made his way down the hallway, through the kitchen and into the dining room, following the familiar smell of spaghetti Bolognese. Amy was stood at the table, sleeves rolled back, dishing up healthy portions of the meal. The Doctor often wondered how she stayed so skinny. He rubbed his hands together and sat himself down at the table. Rory was ushered in by his daughter but, unsurprisingly, he chose to sit on the opposite side of the table from the Doctor, and right up the other end. The Time Lord didn't complain.

He heard River call up the stairs for Merry before sitting down next to him, taking extra care to rub up against him. The Doctor smiled. As if she was going to get to him that easily. Out of the corner of his eye he could see both Amy and Rory eyeing him up. Sniffing indignantly, the Doctor helped himself to the carton of fruit juice that was sat in the middle of the table. Letting Merry pass her as the young girl bounded into the kitchen, Amy sat down on the other side of River and opposite Rory. Finally, Merry sat next to her grandfather, looking a little less pleased that she was placed across from her mother.

The Doctor was just preparing to start eating when River put her hand on his. Looking at her with an open mouth, his hearts almost completely demolished his rib cage. She smiled at his expression.

"Patience." She said. He didn't quite understand the reference until River turned to her daughter, saying, "Merry, do you want to say the grace?" The young girl nodded and clasped her hands together, bowing her head and closing her eyes. The Doctor watched in wonder and slight amusement as River, Rory and Amy followed suit. He watched, feeling no real obligation to join in, until River stretched out and pushed his hands together

"You're in our house. You go by our rules." She whispered in his ear. Sighing, he copied everyone else.

"Bless us, O Lord," Merry began gently, "For these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord, Amen." The three others repeated "Amen" in unison. Suddenly, the room sprang to life and a general chatter started up. Merry began telling her mother about her day at school, and Amy and Rory began talking about goodness knows what. All the Doctor could see was that they were eyeing each other up like hungry animals. He didn't particularly want to know why. Instead, he decided to just eat and look as if he were interested in the conversation.

After a while, Rory and Amy went quite reverting to just watching each other across the table, occasionally smiling seductively. The Doctor made a quiet retching noise, which was only noticed by Merry, who had to desperately suppress her smirk when River noticed.

"What?" River asked, looking to and from Merry and the Doctor.

"Nothing." They replied in unison. They grinned at each other and continued eating. River shook her head and followed suit, but kept watching them suspiciously.

"So," Amy started, becoming aware that they were laughing at her and Rory, "How old are y', Merry?" Finishing her mouthful, the girl spoke.

"Seventeen." She replied, adding, "Eighteen next week." By now, the Doctor had finished his food and, after refusing seconds from River, began to listen intently to the single conversation; his main idea was that he might be able to pick up some hints or clues from Merry, who seemed more relaxed about the past than River ever was.

"Unfortunately…" River muttered.  
>"Why unfortunately?" the Doctor asked curiously, looking to the woman sat beside him.<p>

"Mum's worried," Merry replied for her, "Because it's the legal age for marriage and… stuff."  
>"<span>Very<span> worried." River corrected, setting her cutlery down and putting the Doctor's plate on top of hers, receiving Amy's with a brief "thank you" as well.

"Oh come on!" Merry teased, copying her mother and piling Rory's plate onto hers, "It's not like I have my eye on anyone yet."

"Except for that boy who works at the library…" River commented quietly, standing up and taking the plates in front of her.

"Mu-um!" Merry cried in dismay. River laughed as she made her way around the table.

"What?" she asked innocently, "I've seen you staring at him. You're so obvious."

The Doctor smiled. Their teasing and bickering clearly meant that they had a good relationship. He laughed at Merry's horrified face as River set the plates on the counter beside the sink in the kitchen.

"Mum! No I haven't. And I'm not." She said in hopelessly defiance, "And besides even if I did fancy him – if" she stopped herself quickly as she saw River about to make a remark, "If I fancied him it's not like he'd feel the same way." At that comment, Merry pouted like a child. Feeling the instinctive need to make her feel better, the Doctor spoke.

"Why wouldn't he?" he asked, adding, "You're funny, clever, pretty; what's not to like?" Merry frowned at him. Taking it as a good sign, although he probably should have noticed that it wasn't, the Doctor smiled.  
>"Um, ew? Paedophile." Amy muttered.<p>

"What? I'm being honest." He retorted protectively, turning back to Merry, "You're amazing and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Suddenly, Merry gave the Doctor a filthy look.

"Oh, stop making fun of me, would you?" she grumbled, standing up, roughly pushing her chair back and storming out of the room. River tried to grab her daughter as she swept past.

"Merry, don't." she called after the young girl, but Merry just shook her head and ran upstairs. River slowly turned to the Doctor, who was still rather stunned.

"What did I say?" he asked innocently. River half-smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing, she's just a bit sensitive at the moment." She replied sitting back down at the table, this time in Merry's seat. The Doctor moved up a space.

"Why? What's happening at the moment?" he asked in concern.

"She's just going through a bit of a rough patch at school." River answered evasively.

"River, tell me. What sort of rough patch?" he said, leaning forwards.  
>"You'd have to ask her; I don't have the right to tell you her secrets." She said. Taking a deep breath, the Doctor decided to throw himself in at the deep end.<p>

"If I were her father, would you tell me then?" he asked quietly. The whole room went silent and the tension could have been cut with a butter knife, probably even a spoon. River looked into the Doctor's eyes, unblinking. He could see that she was trying to think of a reply. Although her face was expertly blank, a damn good poker face if ever he saw one, he knew that he had touched on a delicate subject for her. He had hoped that she would give him the answer that he had been waiting and praying for, but instead, she gave him a small smile and replied.

"If you were her father, I wouldn't need to."


	8. Apologies

Desert was undeniably awkward. The room was generally silent apart from a few questions from Amy and Rory, usually directed at River, which were answered with one or two words, excluding any um-ing and ah-ing. They complimented Amy's cooking although, in truth, it still needed a lot of work. The Doctor, however, didn't speak at all. He ate his food with some vengeance, not once taking his glare away from River. It felt like a repeat. For the millionth time, he was glowering at River, knowing that she had a point, but refusing to accept it.

And besides, what exactly did she mean by "if you were her father, I wouldn't need to"? What was that about? So, he wasn't Merry's father? Or he was, but she was just speaking in riddles, as per usual. To be honest, he wasn't angry at River, he was just angry that he didn't know what was going on. He was confused, confounded, befuzzled; whatever you want to call it, that was what he was. And he hated it. He wasn't used to being continuously in the dark.

Once they had finished eating, River showed Amy and Rory to their room. Apparently, they came and visited quite a lot when Merry was little. The Doctor decided to stay where he was in protest. He wasn't quite sure what he was protesting against, all he knew was that he was. He stayed where he was until River came back down. She rolled her eyes at him and started collecting up the plates. She took them into the kitchen and began to load them up into the dishwasher. After setting it going, she filled the sink with hot water and began to wash the pots and pans she used for cooking.

The Doctor wandered into the kitchen and leant against the door frame, watching River work. After a few minutes, she sighed.

"What do you want?" she asked wearily. The Doctor was expecting some anger from her, but this was all he got? There was definitely something weird about the whole household, the whole planet, even.

"Nothing." He replied simply.

"Well, then why don't you go and make yourself useful by apologising to Merry." She suggested, not turning from her work.

"Why should I apologise?" he asked grumpily, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but it'll make her feel better if you talk to her and say sorry." River said. The Doctor waited. He could tell that there was something else she wanted to say. Finally, she spoke, "You apologise, even if you weren't wrong. That's what you do when you love someone."

"But I don't love her." The Doctor retorted. Immediately, as he saw River tense up, he regretted saying it. Drat. That was an extremely insensitive comment. He felt like whacking himself over the head with The Complete Travellers Atlas of Reality. Why could he never be tactful?

"You will do." River replied simply. But before the Doctor could apologise, she grabbed the towel from the counter, dried her hands and hurried off, hiding her face. Cursing, the Doctor followed her upstairs.

"River! Wait!" he called out after her. Half way up, he paused as he heard a door slam. Continuing with slightly more caution, he reached the landing.

He looked down the narrow passage. There were five doors. He couldn't tell which one was River's. He listened at the first door on his left. There was nothing. At the first door on the right he could hear Amy and Rory's voices. Well, he could hear Rory talking and Amy giggling. Shuddering, he continued across to the second door on the left. He couldn't hear much, but the sign on the door read "Merry's room". The second door on the right was silent too. He was just about to move onto the third door on his left, when he heard a gentle sob.

The Doctor pressed his forehead against the wooden frame and closed his eyes. He was such an idiot. He'd made River cry. Of all the women he'd said hurtful things to, however unintentionally, he never thought River would be the one to cry over them. He cursed and slid down onto the floor. He stayed like that until he plucked up the courage to go in. Knocking gently, the Doctor opened the door.

It was quite dark in River's room. Her window, diagonally across from the door, was open. The maroon curtains fluttered in the breeze, creating a gentle, but chilly draft. It was a fairly small room. Most of it was taken up by the bed in the middle, the colour of the covers matching that of the curtains. A wardrobe stood against the wall on the left, at the end of the bed, which had its headboard against the right wall. There was no hanging light, but a lamp on the bedside table, from which most of the light was coming.

River was curled up, head on knees, in the middle of the bed, her back to the door. She sniffed gently, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. Closing the door behind him, the Doctor made his way around the bed. He sat down next to her and joined her in looking out of the window. It wasn't much of a view; the only thing visible was the house opposite. After a few minutes in silence, the Doctor spoke.

"River, I'm sorry." He said, turning to look at her. She didn't respond. For the second time that day, the Doctor didn't know what he'd done wrong, or what he had to do to fix it, so he went straight for his default setting, "What I meant was, I don't know Merry very well yet… But I'm not making any excuses. It was an insensitive comment; it was out of line and I shouldn't have said it." He waited. Slowly, River brought her legs down from her chest and set her feet on the floor.

"No, you shouldn't." she said. She paused, "Now the least you can do is say sorry to Merry." The Doctor sighed.

"Alright." He replied, standing up, "I'll go and do it now, OK?" River nodded in response. He patted her gently on the shoulder before leaving.

Out on the landing, he breathed a sigh of relief, closing the door behind him. He marched across to Merry's room and knocked on the door. He didn't get a reply, so he went in. He had to leave the door open, as the lights were out. He couldn't see much apart from the outline of a figure lying in bed, up against the far left wall, tucked away in the corner. He slowly approached the bed. After establishing that Merry was asleep, whispering her name several times and getting no response, the Doctor was about to leave when he had an idea.

He took out his sonic screwdriver and edged closer to Merry, until he was right next to the bed. He knelt down and quickly buzzed the sonic down the length of Merry's body. Looking at the results, he felt like crying. She was human. He checked again. Still human. He sonic-ed her more times than he'd fought the Daleks, but she was still human. He edged up to towards the headboard.

"Who are you, Merry?" he whispered, running his fingers gently along hers, "I thought… I thought that you were the Time Lord. I was so sure that…" he took a deep breath, "I was so sure that you were mine. I thought I'd finally found someone to live for…" The Doctor stroked her hair, twisting his fingers through her curls. Before long, he found himself smiling.

"You know what, Merry?" he said quietly to her, "You know what? I don't care if you're another man's daughter. I don't care if you're the product of an experiment, or a wild night out. I am going to love you like you're mine. Because you will be. I will make you mine. Just you wait. You'll be the safest person in the whole of reality. And d'you know why?" the Doctor snivelled slightly, blinking back his tears, "Because I can love you. And I will. And I will find out what's going on here. I will find out who the Time Lord is and who you are to me. Because, Merry, I was a father. And deep down inside, I still am." He kissed her gently on forehead; taking a deep breath, he added the words he was afraid of saying, "I love you, Merry."


	9. Bow Ties Are Cool

**Note to readers: Firstly, thank you all for the really lovely reviews I've been getting; it means a lot to me. Please, please, please (again) log in so that I can thank you or answer any queries, not for my good, but for yours. Also, I was asked by one of my friends if I actually knew who Merripen was and/or where I was going with this fiction. So here's the answer for you all: yes, I have known who Merry is right from the beginning, although I did experiment with a few ideas in my head before reverting back to the original. As for the second part of the question, I know what's going on with the whole Merripen/River/Time Lord situation, but I don't actually know where this fiction is heading. Whoops. My bad. Remember, if you have any questions, never hesitate to ask!**

The Doctor stood up, wiping new tears from his eyes. He didn't want to leave her, but he knew he should get back to River. Scuffing his feet on the carpet, he turned around. As he watched his feet he noticed something: a shadow on the floor. He looked up slowly and straight into the damp eyes of River. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to find words to explain the situation.

"River, I…" he began. But she put a finger to her lips and indicated to the sleeping Merry. He nodded and left the room, glancing one last time at Merry before he closed the door. In silence, he and River made their way back to her room. Once inside, with the door shut firmly behind them, River turned to the Doctor.

"Did you really mean all of that?" she asked gently. The Doctor nodded shyly and wandered aimlessly to the end of the bed, before turning to face River again. She smiled at him, "I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon. You always do."

"It would be a lot easier if you just told me the truth." He grumbled quietly.

"Would you really want that? To be told?" she asked doubtfully, "Doctor, that's not your style."

"But it could be." He argued, "Just for one day." She smiled, almost patronisingly. By now he was beginning to realise how his words just sounded like pleas. He wanted answers. He wanted them now. He didn't care if that was pathetic or childish, he just wanted to know.

"No, it couldn't be. You would hate yourself afterwards." River replied softly.

"But… But…" the Doctor stuttered helplessly, "But I don't think that I can work it out by myself. That's the problem. I don't know where start…" He sat down heavily on the end of the bed, leaning forwards on his legs. River sat herself closely beside him and began to rub his arm.

"Doctor, I know that you can do it." She said comfortingly, "The last time I saw you, you knew everything." The Doctor was slightly cheered by this thought. But he still wasn't sure. What if she was lying to make him happy, or to cover something up? It wouldn't be the first time. Sighing, the Doctor spoke again.

"But this is the first time for me, not the second. I-" he stopped himself as he was hit by a thought.

"Doctor?" River asked. He turned slowly to her.

"If this is the first time I meet Merry, is this the last time she'll see me?" he whispered. River's eyes dropped to look at his arm as she spoke.

"Probably." She said quietly, her pain clear in her shaking voice.

"Does Merry know?" he asked, his voice faltering slightly. River nodded, looking back into his eyes.

"You warned her last time." She replied. The Doctor closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Well, at least that was one less thing he had to worry about. River studied his face, "You really care about her, don't you?" The Doctor looked up.

"How can I not?" he said. River smiled.

"Everything you said in there," she started, "It meant a lot to me. And it would have meant a lot to Merry too. You're very important to her." The Doctor simply let the words wash over him. If he wasn't careful, he was going to have another breakdown. But he couldn't help hearing them. He began to grin broadly, sitting up again and facing River. She smiled too. Gradually, her hand reached out and began to caress his face gently. His smile faded and his mouth opened slightly as he watched her expression change from sentimental happiness to lust. He swallowed loudly.

Suddenly, River lunged at him, grabbing the lapels of his jacket and pulling him on top of her. He didn't complain. She pushed the jacket off his shoulders as he fumbled clumsily with the buttons on her blouse. After a while, he pulled his mouth from hers and concentrated on the buttons. He heard her sigh.

"Having trouble there, sweetie?" she asked tiresomely.

"No…" he muttered. She waited until he finally cried, "Have you dead-lock sealed your blouse too?" She laughed, batting his hands away and taking her blouse off with ease. He looked sheepishly at her. She kissed him hungrily, moving his shaking hands up to her chest. He shivered slightly in shock and he felt her smile against his lips. She pushed his braces of his shoulders and reached for the bow-tie.

Despite his… distractions, the Doctor managed to grab her hand.

"Bow-ties are cool." He murmured. She groaned.

"I am not having sex with you if you insist on wearing that thing." She said sternly. The Doctor opened his eyes in terror.

"Sex?" he asked, his voice pitch going into ultra-sonic. She laughed as she took the opportunity to take the bow-tie off and throw it carelessly across the bedroom.

"Yes." She growled in his ear. She swiftly rolled him over and began to undo the fastening on his trousers. He didn't even have any time to protest. Not that he had any plans to do so. Or would do. Ever.

**P.S. Apologies for the terrible slash-ish; my lack of experience clearly speaks for itself! Not that I'm not hot. Trust me, I am. I'm like a bleedin' furnace... Anywho, just to let you know, today's double post is me feeling guilty due to the fact that I'm going to be out for most of tomorrow (yeah, that's right, I have a life) and so I probably won't get around to posting my next chapter. Urm, sorry. Cheerio!**


	10. This Is Not Over

**Note to readers: I've now realised that my writing is getting progressively worse. I blame it on the weather personally. For all of you across the pond, England has been utterly miserable for several days now. Which, of course, means that we Brits must be rather "jolly hockey sticks" to make up for it. Understandably, this makes for terrible writing is worsened by your grandfather breaking his car, your brother cycling himself over the handlebars of his bicycle, and your grandmother saying "cheerio" to you as soon as you walk through to door. Rest assured that I am going to fix this problem, possibly by purchasing another family or, if all else fails, moving to Canada. Hopefully, you will survive my horrific writing until then. Toodle pip!**

Light danced through the window, not too bright, but bright enough to burn the eyes of someone who had just woken up. The distant sounds of cars and early-risers seemed to echo, as if they weren't quite real, but only a timeworn memory. Nearby, a sparrow sung loudly, a woodpecker accompanying it by drilling a regular beat into what sounded like a tree. Judging by the concentration of sunlight that hit the bed, it must have been about half seven or eight in the morning, perhaps later, seeing as the buildings outside cut out a lot of light. The air was light and pleasant, and the only close sounds were those of River's steady breathing.

The Doctor blinked, easing his eyes open. He was lying on his back, on the side of the bed nearest to the window. Not many people felt comfortable lying on their backs; they preferred to lie on their sides. But the Doctor liked it this way. He could jump up quickly if need be. But this morning he didn't want to jump up straight away like he did every other morning. For once, he found himself wishing that it could last forever.

He turned to his left. All he could see was the back of River's head, curls in a messy tangle behind her. The Doctor rolled over onto his side and began to twist his fingers through her hair. He smiled as they all sprung back into place as soon as he had let go. Kissing her shoulders and neck, the Doctor ran his hands along her side, taking in every inch of her form that he could see under the duvet. She shivered under his touch and stirred. Slowly, she rolled over so that she was facing him. Sleepily, she smiled.

"Morning." She murmured, reclosing her eyes as he kissed her forehead.

"Morning." He replied gently. Trembling slightly, she wriggled closer to him and buried her face in his bare chest. As they just lay there, enjoying each other's company, the Doctor tried to recall the night before. He couldn't remember much, probably because he wasn't really thinking all that much about what was happening. He was pretty sure that matters just took their own course. All he knew for certain was that he didn't regret it in the least.

He lay there for several minutes, smiling and mulling over general subjects until he was hit by a thought. Sitting up suddenly, the Doctor turned to River, who was now sitting up too.

"Are we married?" he asked suddenly, twiddling his fingers as he often did.

"Um, why do you ask?" River said, clutching the bed sheets to her chest, still blinking furiously, trying to bring herself into more of an awake mode.

"Well, it's just, I don't… do things like this… out of, um, wedlock." He mumbled in embarrassment. She smiled drowsily, wiping the sleep from her eyes with her free hand. She leant in and began kissing his cheek and neck.

"I love you." She whispered. But he pushed her shoulders back and looked into her eyes.

"River." He said sternly.

"I don't do things like this either. I never have." She replied, "Does that answer your question?"

The Doctor was stunned. They were married? After all this time, she couldn't even have told him that? It wasn't a bad kind of stunned though. If it had been, it wouldn't have turned him on, right there and then. Growling playfully, he pushed her back down onto the bed. River protested very little, and only really for fun. The Doctor was fairly sure that he was about relive the night before and even had his head rested against his future – or present – wife's chest when the door creaked open.

"Mum, the dishes are still in the sink. Do you want me t-" Merry's question was cut off with a horrified scream.

"Merry!" River cried, clutching the sheet to her chest again as the Doctor threw himself off the bed in panic. Sitting up, he peered over the edge of the bed. Merry was looking to and from the two of them in utter repulsion. She was so pale; she looked on the verge of vomiting. River continued, "Learn to knock, would you?"

"Yes. I… I'm sorry. I'll… I'll just… sorry…" she stuttered, backing quickly out of the room, slamming the door shut as she went.

The room stayed awkwardly silent. The Doctor, who was still sitting on the floor, looked to River in shock. Looking him in the eyes, she finally spoke.

"My parents can't find out about this." She said quietly, as if they were listening in on her.

"River, they were in the next room; I'm pretty sure that they would have heard. After all you are 'quite the screamer'." He quoted. She rolled her eyes, despite not really knowing the relevance of his comment yet, and climbed out of bed.

"Just get dressed." She ordered. Feeling that this wasn't the time to argue, the Doctor did as he was told.

They dressed in silence, avoiding most eye contact, or… body contact. River tied her hair back into a loose ponytail, as the Doctor slung on his jacket and waited for her. They headed down the stairs, the Doctor letting River take the lead. By the time they arrived downstairs, Amy and Rory were already there, eating breakfast quietly with Merry. The kitchen was as silent as the rest of the house, apart from the occasional clinking of spoons against cereal bowls.

River stopped at the doorway, the Doctor stood not far behind her, cowering in slight fear that Amy and Rory were aware of what happened last night. After all, they were in the room next door.

"Merry?" River said sternly. Merry looked up nonchalantly.

"Yes?" she asked plainly.

"Can we talk to you outside?" River asked. There was a definite threat in her voice, completely unmistakable. Only a fool would deny River her request. But surely enough…

"Perhaps later. You're actually interrupting our conversation here." Merry replied. Denial and an accusation? Was she suicidal? Or just very, very gutsy? Well, like mother, like daughter.

"But… we weren't talking." Rory commented in confusion. Merry turned to him, giving him what can only be described as a look of death. He cringed as he realised his mistake and returned to eating his coco pops in fear. River raised her eyebrow and her daughter looked to her guiltily.

"Coming?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Merry said, still denying defeat. She was so much like River it was like looking at a younger version of the archaeologist.

Merry stood up and exited the room with a River-like dignity. Her mother followed her, leaving the Doctor to wave awkwardly at his friends who were looking slightly confused. He scurried off and found River and Merry in the living room. Merry was sat on the sofa, looking anything but interested in the situation. River was perched on the edge of the chair against the doodle wall, studying her daughter with an expression of intense worry. After shutting the door behind him, the Doctor sat on the arm of River's chair, slinging his arm along the back of the headrest.

After receiving a pleading look from River, the Doctor spoke, a little unsure of where to start.

"Merry," he said, "We want to explain what exactly was happening this morning. You see-"

"Oh, I know what was happening." Merry said, cutting him off, "I'm seventeen; I do know about this stuff." The Doctor blinked.

"You do?" he asked. Merry smirked.

"Yes." She replied, "And I understand completely." The Doctor was about to sigh with relief, but she continued to remark, "I mean, you're adults. You have needs-"

"Merry." River snapped. The young girl didn't seem to sense the danger in her mother's voice. She didn't even try very hard to supress her far too amused grin. The Doctor could feel River tensing up as she clearly got more and more irritated. Sensing that a full-blown fight could break out, and as much as he did love a girl-fight, the Doctor spoke again.

"We would appreciate it if you didn't say anything." He said, recapturing Merry's attention with a desperate plea, "Just, pretend it never happened."

"Alright." She said, very unconvincingly, a small smile still playing across her face. After a long pause, during which Merry was obviously aware that she was being watched closely, the young girl leant forwards in her chair, "Well, I hate to be a spoilsport, but I think I'll be off."

The Doctor and River watched Merry leave the room in silence. She didn't bother shutting the door behind her and her footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

"I'll be in my room, if you should need me." She called as she walked. The Doctor shifted off the chair, walking to the door.

"Well, thank goodness that's over." He said with a smile. River didn't return the gesture.

"You think this is over?" she asked incredulously, "No, trust me. This is not over."

"But…But Merry just said…" the Doctor said in confusion.

"You think I don't know my own daughter's mind? She's not going to let this go that easily." River replied. The Doctor's smiled faltered. He could only hope that she was wrong.


	11. Astrophysics

The rest of the day was fairly mindless and human. It was Saturday so Merry was off school, but she spent most of her time in her room, and River had domestic things to do, leaving Amy, Rory and the Doctor to amuse themselves. They explored the neighbourhood, taking a walk through the park and eventually finding the town centre. They looked in the shops, Amy and Rory letting the Doctor explain to them what things were and how they worked. He even went into a full-blown lecture about the fiftieth centaury and was about to venture into the fifty-first when he was elbowed sharply by Amy, who had noticed that his loud voice had attracted some unwanted attention.

After that, they went to a small café on the edge of the town centre. The Doctor then explained, in a much quieter voice, that Domicilia was about the size of Pluto, which, in turn, had about the same surface area as Russia. He kept talking in vain hope that they would be distracted by his constant babble and completely forget about the morning. It seemed to work. Ish. Although they never said anything, he couldn't help but feel that they gave each other knowing looks when the Doctor happened to glance away, or become side-tracked by something with shiny buttons.

At around four o'clock they got a futuristic looking old-style London bus back to sector 8.3, which dropped them off about a mile or so away from Paradox Place. They walked back in near silence, all three of them fairly exhausted by their day out. When they got inside – the Doctor using his key, this time – they discovered that River had finished running all of her errands and was sitting in the living room, reading a book quietly.

"Honey, we're home." The Doctor called sarcastically as he walked through the living room door, grinning cheekily as River rolled her eyes at him. She set down her book and gestured for them to join her. Resuming their places as before, Amy and Rory sunk into each other's arms, utterly drained. The Doctor smiled as Amy tucked her legs under her body and collapsed on Rory's chest, her husband wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"So, how was your day out?" River asked.

"Great." The Doctor lied, shooting glances to the Ponds, who were now trying desperately to keep their eyes open, "We explored almost the whole of sector 8.3." River nodded.

"It's not the most thrilling place to live, but it is home." She said, watching her parents; by now they were pretty much out of it, fast asleep on the sofa. The Doctor nodded to the hallway and River smiled, following him out quietly.

Once they were out of the room, she took his hand and led him up the stairs. They reached the landing without making a sound, until the Doctor roughly pushed River against the wall and kissed her fiercely. She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Suddenly, a door creaked open and Merry walked out onto the landing.

"Oops." She said, grinning as they broke apart, looking incredibly embarrassed, "I keep making a habit of walking in on you, don't I?"

"I have some paper work I need to take care of." River sighed, ignoring her daughter's smirk.

"OK." The Doctor replied quietly, stepping back as she slipped inside the first room on the left. He tried peering in, but she shut the door before he could see anything.

"That's Mum's study." Merry said, answering his unasked question, "She doesn't let anyone in there. Makes me wonder what she's hiding really…" The Doctor gave her an inquisitive look.

Merry shook her head.

"Never mind." She said, "I was wondering whether you could help me with some school work." He nodded, surprised that she was asking him and not her mother. Perhaps that was his role in her past and his future; a teacher. He followed her timidly into her room and, for the first time, was able to get a look around in the light.

The room was decently sized; River had clearly given her daughter the biggest room. The walls and ceiling were a dark aqua colour, and the carpet was navy blue. The wooden boarder along the ceiling was navy blue too, a Gallifrey quote written along it in white. Taking little time to read what it said, he looked back down again. Her bed was tucked away in the far left corner, as he remembered it to be. Her desk was beside it; an unlit lamp sitting on it probably acted as a reading light too.

He looked around. The wall above the bed and against the far wall was covered in paper: diagrams, childhood drawings, notes and photos. All of them clearly had a significant meaning or were of certain importance. The Doctor saw his own face amongst them several times, sometimes in photos, other times in the messy art of a childhood drawing. He smiled and moved on as Merry took a seat at her desk.

To the right, behind the door, was a wardrobe and against the wall adjacent to it was a huge bookcase. The books it contained were varying. Some were old picture books, even a few Earth classics: Winnie the Pooh, The Hungry Caterpillar, and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. The majority of them were factual books though, exploring space, science and history, all the things that the child of a time traveller was likely to be interested in. One book in particular caught the Doctor's cynical eye. Pulling it from the bookcase, he turned to Merry.

"Mysteries of the Universe?" he asked sceptically. Merry turned to face him. She smiled as she recognised the cover he was showing her.

"Yeah, you used to read it to me when I was little." She said reminiscently, "You used to go through the whole book and explain to me how each and every one of those weren't mysteries at all. You usually had something to do with it." He grinned as he flicked through it, noting his annotations and feeling rather smug as he noticed how much he had crossed through and labelled "wrong!" or "pah!". He stuck it back in where he had found it and crossed over to the desk where Merry was waiting.

He looked over her shoulder, leaning his hand on the desk as he looked at the mess in front of him. The table was littered with paper, mostly school work by the looks of it. He tapped the one highest in the chaos.

"This one?" he asked, studying what looked like a question paper. Merry nodded, and the Doctor frowned, "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?"

"It's a GCE astrophysics paper; I'm trying to get a head start." She replied.

"GCE?" the Doctor asked, "They're still doing that qualification?"

"Well, no. It's a slightly more up-to-date qualification now. It's called a GCAE." Merry said, preparing to expand on the acronym when the Doctor interrupted.

"General Certificate of Advanced Education." He said, "But, this is university level work."

"Yeah, like I said, I'm trying to get a head start." She began, "And besides, my A level work is infuriatingly easy."

"What's the date today?" the Doctor asked suddenly. Merry frowned.

"The fifth of September." She said in confusion, "Why is that relevant?" The Doctor sat on the edge of the desk.

"This is Unit 5 Astrophysics. University courses only cover this area of Nuclear Instability in the fourth year of their studies." He said pointedly.

"So?" she asked, leaning back in her chair.

"You've only just started your second year of A levels. This work is about four or five years ahead of your game, Merry. That's extremely advanced." The Doctor said gently, studying the young girl's face.

"I still don't see your point." She replied, "So, I'm clever. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with that. It's just a little surprising." He said.

But he was lying. There was something wrong with that. No human teenager should have been able to even consider University work at that level. She was clearly intelligent. But far too much so for her age and species. The only race he knew with such ingenuity at an age like hers was his own. And he had scanned her; she wasn't a Time Lord, she was completely human. And it was killing him. Every time he looked at her he could see someone else. River and a man: a man who wasn't him. Blinking back tears, the Doctor forced a smile.

"So, what are you stuck on?"


	12. One Ring To Fool Them All

**Note to readers: Just to let you know, if I don't reply to your queries it will be because they are soon to be answered. For example, this chapter begins a looooooong explanation of what the hell is going on here. Hopefully it's not too confusion. It makes sense to me, but you need to let me know if you're having trouble understanding what's going on, especially as the next few chapters, starting here, are going to explain pretty much everything there is. I hope you enjoy it!**

"Dinner!" River called up the stairs, then moving into the living room to rouse her parents. The Ponds stumbled sleepily out into the hallway after their daughter, very nearly colliding head-on with Merry and the Doctor as they made their way down into the kitchen. Once they were all seated at the table, River dished out chicken stir-fry in healthy portions. They all chatted away, the Doctor even joining in with the general domesticity of the occasion.

But River said nothing. She didn't even smile once. After noticing this, the Doctor rarely took his eyes off her, watching her every move. She looked tired. No, more like shattered. She had huge bags under her eyes, ones that the Doctor was sure weren't there when he last saw her. As she was pouring water into Merry's glass, her hands shook violently. Merry frowned and touched her mother's arm, taking the jug from her hands and forcing her to sit down in her chair.

"Mum, are you alright?" she asked in concern, studying River's face intently.

"I'm fine." River replied flatly. Merry, looking slightly put off, began twisting the ring on her finger as the Doctor had noted she did when she was thinking. River nodded to her hands, "Did you take your ring off yesterday?" Merry looked down guiltily.

"No." she said quietly; it was a clear lie.

"Merripen Amelia Song, don't you dare lie to me." River snapped darkly, "Tell me the truth."

Merry's breath quickened as she looked in terror into her mother's eyes.

"I… I…" she stuttered, tears welling in her eyes. The Doctor's hearts were beating fast. He'd never seen her like this before. And he'd never seen River so dangerous, despite the number of times she's nearly shot him with a gun. But there was something beneath her anger: fear.

"Spit it out!" River barked, pushing her chair back and standing up. Merry whimpered as if she had been stabbed with a white-hot poker.

"It was an accident." She sobbed, tears now streaming helplessly down her face. Gradually standing up too, the Doctor held his arm out to River.

"River, you need to calm down." He said slowly. He didn't understand: what was so important about this ring? But she simply smacked his hand away from her.

"How could you be so stupid?" she said, still looking at the quaking Merry.

"It wasn't my fault." The young girl pleaded, "Some girls in my class took it from me. They hid it. They wouldn't give it back."

"I've told you how important it is to keep that dratted thing on!" River shouted; she was crying now too. Suddenly, the Doctor gave in to his curiosity.

"Why is the ring so important?" he asked, looking back and forth between River and Merry. Both of them remained silent, causing the Doctor to continue, "Why shouldn't it be taken off, Merry?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know." She wept helplessly. The Doctor rushed around to the other side of the table, making Merry stand up, as if she were expecting him to grab her. She backed herself quickly against the wall, raising her shaking hands to her face. He slowly approached her, eventually pulling her into his arms.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know why you need to keep it on." He said, comfortingly rubbing her shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

"Mum s-says it's to keep me s-safe. She s-says I'll be in danger if I t-take it off." Merry sobbed. She sounded just like a terrified child, utterly distraught by seeing the dark side of a parent.

"Why does she need to wear it, River?" the Doctor asked, rocking Merry in his arms, "What would happen if she took it off?"

"I can't…" River said whispered tearfully.

"River, look at what you've done. Then tell me you can't." he said sternly to her. River looked in horror at her daughter, her eyes filling with new tears as she raised a hand to her mouth. But she still shook her head.

"I really, really can't." she said through her fingers. The Doctor was fed up of the lies. He was fed up of everyone knowing more than he did. He wanted answers. After glaring at River, the Doctor looked down.

"Merry," he began gently, pushing her away far enough to see her face, "Can you give me your ring?" The young girl's eyes widened and she shook her head, glancing to her mother and back again.

"No!" River cried, moving to get around the table.

"Rory, Amy, hold her back." The Doctor ordered quietly, watching as they jumped up. Rory held his daughter by the shoulders, as Amy attempted to calm her down. The Doctor looked back down at Merry, who was watching the situation with a child-like expression of fear. Slowly she turned back to him as he spoke again, "Merry, I want you to give me your ring."

"No…" she whimpered, shrinking away from him. But he gripped her by the shoulders.

"I won't let any harm come to you, I promise." He said patronisingly, well aware that forcing her to do something wouldn't be the sensible thing to do. Merry looked down at her ring and, raising her hand, she began to take it from her finger.

"Merry! Please!" River cried in distress, Rory having to hold her back.

As soon as the ring had been removed, it hit him. The Doctor stumbled backwards, hand to his mouth as he tried to take in what he now knew. He could smell it. He could smell her. She was the Time Lord. He ran forward again, running the sonic up and down her. He looked at the reading. Time Lord. Still dumbstruck he pressed his ear to her chest and listened. One heart. He moved to the other side of her chest. Two hearts. He moved back and simply stared at her.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amy asked. Without looking away from Merry, he replied.

"It's a bio-damper." He said plainly.

"What is?" Rory asked, every bit as confused as his wife.

"The ring. It's a bio-damper." He replied.

"What's a bio-damper?" Rory said, loosening his grip on River.

"It disguises the bio-signature of an organism. What it truly is can't be detected." The Doctor said offhandedly, more interested in Merry, "But that means…" He stretched out his hand, gently stroking her cheek. Slowly, Merry smiled.

"Welcome home, Pappy."


	13. The Time Lord Is Foolish

The Doctor found himself laughing in shock.

"You're my… I'm your…" he mused, grinning widely.

"I've missed you." Merry sniffed, hugging him tightly, letting fresh tears stain his shirt. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and held her closely in his arms. He never wanted to let her go. For so long he had been without a family. All his people had perished in The Great Time War, apart from one, who wasn't exactly a friend to him. But now he had finally found a kindred spirit, someone to whom he could relate. He was no longer the last of the Time Lords.

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Amy said, bursting through the Doctor's thoughts. He didn't let go of Merry, but he slackened his grip on her, turning reluctantly to his friend. Amy continued as she realised she had his attention, "Have I missed something? Because I am seriously confused." Unwillingly, the Time Lord stepped back, letting go of the young girl in his arms.

"Merry is a Time Lord." He replied. Amy frowned.

"Well, yeah. I know that." She retorted, waving to her daughter, "River told me."

"I didn't tell her. She guessed." River corrected quietly, still watching the emotionally confused Merry intently.

"She told you Merry was a Time Lord?" he asked incredulously. How was that fair? River couldn't tell him, a trust worthy, although slightly flaky and easily distracted, Time Lord. But she could tell her mother, who didn't even need the information. Where was the sense in that?

"She guessed." River repeated.

"No, she told me – I guessed," Amy corrected herself, "That you were Merry's father."

"Rory, you didn't know, did you?" the Doctor asked. Rory nodded.

"You sort of told me." He replied.

"I didn't tell you!" the Doctor cried.

"But that's what you implied. I thought that's what you meant." Rory said. The Doctor paused.

"So everyone knew except me?" he cried in exasperation. Amy and Rory looked to each other, then turned back to him and nodded, "Why didn't you say something?"

"We thought you knew." Rory replied, "It was kind of obvious." The Doctor felt like throwing himself onto a bed of centurion swords. Even that would be less painful than the sympathetic looks he was now receiving from his friends. He felt like such an idiot. Deciding that he had to do something to regain his superiority, the Doctor turned on River.

"And what do you have to say about this?" he said, triggering no response. The Doctor stepped around the table to face River, "You kept my own daughter from me." This time, River looked up.

"For a good reason." She said darkly.

"Oh, really?" the Doctor said sarcastically, "What was that then?"

"You told me to." River replied. That stumped him. What was he meant to say to that: whoops, silly me? No, of course not!

But he didn't have any time to dwell on it. Suddenly, a loud, high-pitched whistling noise filled his ears and a white-ish light began to form around them. All of them fell to the ground, crying out in pain as the noise grew louder.

"What is that?" he heard Amy ask.

"The resonance of an energy signal." The Doctor replied, "A time corridor is being formed around us. It's a cheap version of basic teleport technology; very temperamental at the best of times. Soon it'll suck us through the vortex and spit us out the other end."

"Isn't that dangerous?" River asked.

"Yes!" the Doctor managed to say, just as the growing white light engulfed them completely.

Within seconds, the light was gone and the whistling had stopped, leaving a ringing in the Doctor's ears. He sat up slowly, shaking his head as he checked himself over. His head spun as he looked around. He could see a couple of stirring bodies behind him. Damn rubbish technology, he thought, cursing as he looked back around; it always ended up making him feel as if he'd had an encyclopaedia dropped on his head.

"Stand." A sudden ominous voice ordered. Looking up, the Doctor could see a vaguely humanoid figure looming over him. Without his wits fully intact, he could do nothing but mindlessly stand up and obey the creature's demand. He got up, steadying himself as he tipped from side-to-side. He heard the people behind him do the same. The bright light ahead made the figure appear to be a silhouette. Its dark outline was ragged, with what looked like a tuft of hair on the top of the head. As his sight began to clear, the Doctor could see a few skinny droids holding laser guns lurking in the background. They were seemingly on a command deck of some sort.

"You have brought us the girl." The figure snarled in an animalistic tone, "You will be rewarded with your life."

"Doctor…" River called. But he ignored her. Stumbling closer to the creature, the Doctor spoke.

"I won't let you have her." He said threatening. The figure let out a rumbling laugh.

"Doctor." River repeated.

"Do you hear me? I won't let you anywhere near her." The Doctor shouted.

"The Time Lord is foolish." The creature laughed.

"Doctor!" River cried, finally capturing his attention, "Merry's gone!"


	14. Murderer

**Note to readers: Before anyone mentions it, yes, I do know that female Gallifreyans are called Time Ladies. But in the context that I had it in, it just wouldn't fit. Now, some of you will be glad to hear that I have a whole load planned for Merry in the future and I also have her and the Doctor's time line planned in advance, that way I won't confused myself and/or you chaps. Please tell me if there's anything that you would like to see happen in particular, and I'll see what I can do! There's no point in me writing this if no one likes what's happening. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, and the many more to come! I had something else to say, but I've forgotten it. Never mind... I'm sure it'll crop up in the next chapter...  
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Groaning, Merry clamped her hands to the sides of her head. The white light was gone but the light she could see in front of her still hurt her eyes. Ironic really, seeing as there was very little light at all. Taking one hand from her head, Merry ran it along the floor.

"Non-organic material…" she muttered. Taking a deep breath, and smelling metal, she licked the floor in a very Doctor-esque notion, "Titanium flooring. No steel reinforcement. Interesting…" Slowly, Merry pulled herself into a sitting position. She blinked furiously, looking at her surroundings with great curiosity. She was in some kind of cell. The room was rectangular; the walls behind her and to her side were a dull greyish colour with no windows. They looked almost identical to the floors and, had it not been for the clearly marked white boarders, they would have run as one continuous barrier. In front of her was a wall of bars, wide enough to fit a hand through, but not a head. Well, a human head at least.

Merry stood up, still a little wobbly on her feet, and made her way over to the wall on her left. She knelt down and examined the white room boarders. They weren't anything more than a strip of wire, probably…

"Communication inhibitors," she said, finishing her train of thought out loud, "Used to prevent message signals being transmitted from here, or sent to here… Wow, they've really gone all out on me."

Taking a deep breath, Merry turned back to the bars. She had been fearing what she would see, so she had tried to put it off. But she couldn't anymore. Approaching the bars, she ran her hand along the cold metal. Droids were positioned outside her cell, dumb and lifelessly standing guard. She looked at the circuit cover on their chests. They were marked with a symbol she didn't recognised. By the design and the simplicity of the droids, Merry would have named them as Type 3, perhaps Type 4 or 5 at a stretch, which put them at about the fifty-second centaury; her mother had taught her all about robots. And so had her father.

Merry sighed loudly. She hated how her Mum always made her keep secrets. It was horrible and she saw how much it made her hurt inside. River had been going through a rough time, mainly because Merry had. She had only been back at school for a few days, and already she was being tormented for being clever. Nothing ever changes though, does it? She had been hoping that her classmates would have grown up over the summer and seen that it wasn't her fault she was intelligent. And of course, what Merry felt, River felt too.

River had been having sleepless nights ever since the start of term. Those, and an unusually large work load, were weighing her down, making her more susceptible to letting her emotions break through. Now it seemed that the appearance of the Doctor had sent her over the edge. The last time he had seen them both he had told them that the next time they would meet him, he wouldn't know who Merry was, or what he was to her. He made them promise to try to keep it from him as long as possible, because Merry would be in danger if they let their guard down. At the time, River had thought she could handle the strain… Well, no one has prophetic powers, do they?

When she was a child, River had told her how their time line with the Doctor would work when Merry was older. At the time, Merry didn't believe her; her Pappy was always travelling in the right order. But sure enough, on her thirteen birthday, a teary-eyed Doctor told her that this was probably the last time he would ever see her, but not the last time she would see him. It broke her heart that at that moment in time they were completely in sync. He knew her past, and even some of her future. Parting then had been the hardest thing she ever had to do. After that, things started to go downhill. Every time she saw him he knew less and less about her. She had to remember not to talk too much about the past, however much she wanted to. Finally, she was beginning to realise the pain her mother had been going through, and the pain she would have to go through in the future.

Watching her mother endure such agony made Merry stronger. But in the same way, whenever River was sad, so was she. She couldn't help it. But she'd never seen her mother as distraught as she was earlier. It terrified her that such a strong woman could break down as easily as that. Merry blamed herself. If she could just keep her worries to herself, and hide what was happening at school from her mother, River would be happier. But River could see through her completely, just like Amy could see through her. It was a terrible, mother-daughter chain: unbroken throughout, and despite of, time travel.

Merry pressed her head against the metal. She was thinking too much. Her head always hurt when she did that. She'd read in one of the Doctor's books that Time Lords rarely got headaches, but pregnant one's were prone to them. It had something to do with the foetus's developing active telepathic sensors. In the womb it didn't have the exposure to artron energy that it needed to be able to control its sensors, therefore causing the mother carrying it a lot of grief as it experimented. But she was pretty sure, with as much sexual experience as an amoeba in a fish tank, that that wasn't the problem. The Doctor had told her it was because the time vortex was the main source of the artron energy she needed to be able to control her sensors, and she hadn't been around it as much as any usual Time Lord would have when they were growing up. Yet he still refused to take her on a trip, insisting that it was too dangerous.

Well, now they were in real danger, whether he liked it or not. What didn't make sense to Merry was, if the Doctor knew that this was going to happen, why did he have to tell them to try and prevent it? Wouldn't that just cause a paradox? Merry felt as if she had been brought up inside a bloody paradox. She may as well start to introduce herself as "the paradox girl".

A sudden bang from down the dim corridor drew Merry's attention from her thoughts. The droids around her leapt to life. Well, "leapt" probably wasn't the right word. "Whirred" probably was. The one stood opposite her cell turned to the right and stood to attention. A tall droid walked into view and stopped in front of the smaller one.  
>"Release the girl. Bring her to the command deck." The tall droid ordered in its flat, robotic voice, before turning on its heel and heading back the way it came. It must have been a Droid Commander. The droid to the left of the cell pressed a few buttons, opening the door. Two of them came in, taking Merry's arms and marching her out roughly and down several monotonous looking corridors.<p>

"How do you guys navigate this place? It's like a maze." Merry asked the droids in a feebly attempt to make conversation, looking down at the small slaves that only reached up to her shoulders. She almost felt sorry for them. She could take them out with little more than a flick. Provided they were disarmed, both of their guns and their pointy, painful little fingers. But then what would she do? She had no idea where she was going, other than the command deck. And she couldn't exactly ask for directions.

Soon enough, they reached a set of rather important looking doors. The Droid Commander was stationed outside. The two droids on Merry's arms positioned her so that she was stood opposite the doors. Merry peered behind them. She gasped involuntarily as she saw the sheer two hundred foot drop down onto what looked like an empty hanger. Two or three space craft were stationed by the far wall, no droids guarding them. The place was empty. Merry hadn't had much experience with space ships, but she was pretty sure, after watching the Star Wars films enviously, that hangers were generally a hive of activity in a working ship.

Merry looked back in front of her. The Droid Commander was stood in front of her, facing the doors. A sudden plan hatched in Merry's mind. It was simple enough. She looked down the corridors left and right and saw nothing. Her parents had always spoken of being stupidly brave in the face of danger, despite being scared. Trusting that they knew what they were talking about, Merry took a deep breath.

Without much effort, she shoved the two droids on her arms backwards and over the edge of the hanger. Hearing the noise, the Droid Commander turned to face her, readying its gun for a fight. But Merry was too quick. Not thinking twice, she punched the droid around the head, knocking out its visual sensors. The pain seared through her hand, travelling up her arm as she snatched the gun from its arms. In a panic, she shot it the chest: its centre command circuit. Slowly, the droid crumpled to the floor.

Merry sunk to her knees. So much for being brave like her parents. She looked at the shattered face of the droid. The silver metal mask was splattered with blood from her hand, and its visual sensors hung dislodged from their sockets. She'd killed it. It wasn't even alive, yet she was upset that she had killed it. What was happening to her?

She set down the gun, using her fingers to pry the frazzled metal away from the body. As she opened the creature up, she dropped the casing and screamed. There was a heart in the command circuit. A real, live, human heart. It was alive. But it wasn't now. Merry pushed herself away from the body, sliding across the floor as her whole body trembled. She was a murderer. That thing wouldn't have hurt her. It was only doing its job.

"Mum? Pappy?" Merry wailed, rocking herself back and forth, "Where are you?" Sobbing pitifully, Merry looked at her shaking hand. It was bleeding like hell, but she didn't care. The pain only made her feel better about taking a life that wasn't hers to take.

Suddenly, she looked up. Grabbing the gun and standing herself up again, Merry took a deep breath. She was being a baby. Her parents had done this and worse tones of times. And she wanted to make them proud. She wiped her eyes, grimacing as the salty water stung her bleeding hand. She didn't want to be a coward her whole life. She wouldn't let that happen. She was a Time Lord. Time Lords weren't cowards, and she wouldn't be the first to become one. Gritting her teeth, Merry bust open the door.


	15. Girls And Guns

**Note to readers: Nope, still can't remember what I wanted to say... Damn being part goldfish...**

The door slid open loudly, revealing the command deck. Spotting her family within milliseconds, Merry charged forwards. They were surrounded by droids, all pointing their guns at the captives, and a large creature was slowly approaching them.

"Get away from them!" Merry screamed, pointing her gun at the creature. As it backed away, she was able to get a better look at it. It was well on its way to being over six foot tall, and rather resembled a werewolf. Its matted brown fur was tinted a manky yellow and its webbed paws were too. It stood on its hind legs, not in the least bit hunched; it was almost human in its posture. Its lips were curled back over its teeth as it snarled, froth seeping out of its pointed snout. Tatty green fabric covered very little of its body and the yellowish mane down its back twitched almost defensively.

Merry was now in the centre of the room and the creature had its back to the large control panel. To her right, the droids loaded their guns with a whir and turned to face her.

"Merry! What are you doing?" the Doctor cried. But Merry ignored him.

"Put the gun down, child." The beast growled.

"No. Not until I have some answers." She retorted, her tears now blinding her vision. The creature didn't reply. Manically, it laughed, shocking Merry into silence.

"Answers to what questions?" it asked wittily.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed in response, losing all control over herself, "Answer me or I'll shoot!" The creature growled aggressively, arching its back.

"Shooting me will not help your cause." It retorted angrily.

It was right. Merry tried to think rationally. It was a difficult thing to do. She had been bottling up her emotions for so long that they had just come to a boil. A thousand thoughts were racing through her mind. The creature needed her, but for what? And why not the Doctor if it was some Time Lord business? Merry was beyond confused and she could feel herself tiptoeing quickly into the realm of the mentally deranged. What was she meant to do? She was the only one actually able to do anything now; the others were cornered. But what? She didn't have the brains of her father, or the skill of her mother. The only thing she had on her side currently was luck. And so in one last ditch effort, she turned the gun on herself.

"What if I did this?" she said, raising the gun in her shaking, bloody hand and pressing it to the side of her head.

"Merry, no!" River cried, attempting to break past the droids, but being held back by her father. The beast snarled, crouching slightly, as if ready to pounce, as it recognised the twist in the situation.

"Don't be foolish, child." It said threateningly.

"You need me. I know you do." She sobbed, "So, what if I took my own life? What would you do then?" Out of the corner of her eye, Merry could see her mother pry herself from Rory's protective arms and edge forwards. Raising her hands in a surrendering motion, River advanced slowly towards her daughter.

"Merry," she started slowly, "Put the gun down."

But Merry completely exploded.

"Stop it!" she screamed uncontrollably, "Just stop it!"

"Merry, please." River said patronisingly, "Let's try to be mature here."

"You're doing it again!" Merry cried, "You treat me like a child! How can you then expect me to behave like an adult? It doesn't work that way! You can't have the best of both worlds."

"I don't want the best of both worlds. I just want you to be sensible." River answered pleadingly.

"Oh, and you've been sensible with your life, have you?" Merry retorted in blunt sarcasm.

For a moment, River paused, looking genuinely hurt by her daughter's comment. But Merry was too emotionally-heightened to even notice.

"No, I haven't. And that's why I want you to be responsible; because I never was." River said slowly.

"How can I do that if you're forever messing me around? One second I'm just your little girl, then the next I'm your colleague." Merry ranted, no longer upset, but angry, "And do you ever stop to think about how I feel about you and Pappy snogging in almost every conceivable place? It's revolting! And then what? You expect me to act like nothing ever happened, like I didn't walk in on you two having sex this morning." At this, Rory and Amy turned to look at the Doctor, who grimaced.

"What." Rory said brusquely, glaring at the Doctor.

"That's not what we were doing." The Doctor said in panic, raising his hands.

"Does it really matter? You were all naked and… rolling around." Merry continued, ignoring the fact that the Ponds were now giving threatening looks to the Time Lord beside them, whose expression clearly read as "Kill me now".

"Merry, we tried to talk to you about it-" River started, drawing the young girl's attention away from her father, who had problems of his own.

"You think I want to talk about?" Merry cried incredulously, interrupting her mother.

"Well, how else will I know how you feel?" River retorted, gradually losing her temper.

"You want to know how I feel? I feel confused." Merry answered, her voice quietening as she revealed what she'd been hiding for a long time. She wasn't really angry with anyone, nor was she upset by the predicament that they found themselves in. She was just confused. She didn't know what to think of anything. She should be happy that her parents were so in love, not like other couples who quickly became bored of each other's presence. But she wasn't. Because every time she saw them together she knew that was one less time that they would meet. It was a countdown and for Merry, perhaps even for River, the countdown was almost over. Merry felt lost. This would most likely be the last time she would be with her father. After that, their time together was over. And it was eating her alive.

As though she knew what her daughter meant exactly, River replied.

"Merry, I know-" she said gently.

"No!" Merry cried, resistant to having her feelings related or compared to someone else's, "No, you don't! Because you are not me."

"I know. And I'm not trying to be." River replied softly, "Merry, you're my little girl. I raised you to be a kind and forgiving person. I taught you to never hurt anyone and to always think rationally. Now look at you. You're holding a gun. You're pointing it at a creature who probably doesn't know any better. Think about that, and then put the gun down. Because little girls shouldn't hold guns."

Merry didn't care that her mother was being overly patronising. Tears were pouring uncontrollably down Merry's cheeks and she didn't have the energy to stop them. The feeling of guilt was overwhelming her.

"I killed it." Merry whispered, her voice getting caught on her words.

"Killed what?" River asked calmly.

"The droid. It was guarding the doors." The young girl replied. River gave her a small smile.

"Oh, Merry. Droids are just robots. You haven't killed it, you've just deactivated it." She said.

"No, you don't understand." Merry sobbed, "It had a heart. A beating, human heart. And I shot it." River looked at her daughter in shock and Merry continued in alarm, "I didn't mean to, I swear. But I panicked; I didn't know what to do. I didn't mean to…" And with that, River pushed the gun from her hand and swept her daughter into a hug.

"It's alright." River whispered comfortingly, "Merry, it's not your fault."

Suddenly, a loud pitch whistling noise filled the air and Merry fell to the ground, crying out in agony. She heard someone to her right do the same, followed by a cry of "Doctor!". River knelt down beside her daughter and cradled the girl in her arms as she thrashed about in pain.

"What are you doing to them?" a Scottish-accented voice shouted out. The creature laughed in animalistic glee as the whistle became louder and louder. Merry fought to stay conscious as she heard her mother talking to her. But soon, the noise became too much for her and she gradually blacked out; the call of her name was the last thing that she heard before she fell over the edge of reality and into the dark…


	16. Facing The Fuath

**Note to readers: As you may have noticed, I rather like to ramble and make stuff up. There's a lot of made-up-yet-sounds-possible kinda rubbish in this chapter about Time Lords. So, sorry about that; I'm sure a lot of it doesn't really fit. Also, for you chappies across the pond, "tough titty" basically means "hard luck". I didn't realise how English that phrase was until I was talking to an American tourist and she thought I was calling her a rude name. I swear, I wasn't. Now, I'm going to assume that most of you don't know much of the Irish dialect. For that reason, it might interest you to know that Cearnaigh-Faolán is pronounced ker-nay fwail-awn, and Fuath is pronounced foo-ah. The Fuath is actually a creature already and I used my own interpretation because the stories of them used to scare the life out of me, and still do, to be honest. Google it, if you must. And a little more trivia (yes, I'm nearly done now), Cearnaigh means victorious, and Faolán means wolf. So, victorious wolf. Get it? Cool, eh? Alright, I think I'm done now… Jesus, what an essay…**

As she gently cradled her daughter, River looked up, watching the Doctor push himself from the floor. The Time Lord's arms wobbled under his own weight and they quickly gave way, causing him to fall back to the floor and groan in pain. He panted for a few seconds, and then began to try again, but this time, Rory chivalrously pulled him onto his feet. Using his friend as a support the Doctor turned angrily, or as angrily as he could in his condition, to the beast who was now grinning maniacally at them all. It took River all of her strength not to shoot him right there and then. Of course, she didn't have a gun on her; she didn't usually during dinner, although, in the past, there had been certain exceptions… River looked over her shoulder at Merry's disposed gun. It was close enough to grab at a lunge, but she decided that it was best to leave it for the time being. Still a little bit breathless, the Doctor spoke.

"Who are you?" he said, his voice hardly louder than a hoarse whisper.

"I am General Cearnaigh-Faolán, sixth guardian of the Fuath evacuation shuttle." The creature grumbled. River was slightly surprised at how dejected it sounded.

"What are you?" the Doctor asked.

"I am a Fuath." He replied proudly, "We are servants of the Bean Sídhe."

"The what?" Amy asked the Doctor.

"Banshee, he's a servant of the Banshee." The Time Lord repeated wearily, gripping onto Rory tightly as he swayed. He turned back the Fuath, "You said evacuation shuttle. What do you mean? Why are you evacuating and where is your shuttle?"

"My race fled from the Silence." Cearnaigh replied. River watched as Amy and Rory turned to each other in shock, and the Doctor straightened up a little. Clearly the "Silence" meant something to them. River could only assume, and hope, that she was involved in the future. Like usual, she would just have to wait and see. The Fuath continued, not noticing his captives' reactions, "As for the shuttle, it is gone."

That caught the Doctor's attention.

"Gone? What do you mean? How can you have lost it? An evacuation shuttle is far too cumbersome to shake off a ship this fast." He argued, looking around at the command deck in disbelief.

"I didn't lose it!" Cearnaigh snapped, "My warp-drive had a malfunction as the shuttle and the other guardians made the jump into hyper-space. I was left behind." At this, the huge creature slumped down onto the chair behind him.

"And you're trying to get back to the others?" the Doctor presumed. The Fuath nodded.

"The malfunction was due to a power loss." He explained.

"Well then, charge it up and get going." The Time Lord cried, gesturing melodramatically and attempting to stand on his own two feet but, after tipping dangerously, Rory had to grab hold of him again.

"I can't." Cearnaigh barked, "I tried to, but I ended up using all of my fuel in the process. So now I have a working warp-drive, and no fuel. There are no compatible energy sources within travelling distance either… except for her." Cearnaigh pointed to Merry, and River pulled a shielding arm around her daughter, glaring at the Fuath daringly.

"She's not an energy source." The Doctor stated protectively, "She's my daughter and you will not have her."

"I don't want to "have her", I want her power." Cearnaigh said.

"What power? She's seventeen, she – oh…" the Doctor interrupted his own sentence as he clearly had a sudden revelation. River looked at him expectantly.

"What do you mean 'oh'? What does he want her for?" she asked urgently. They had been faffing around long enough. She wanted answers. The Doctor looked over to River and then looked sadly down at his unconscious daughter.

"She's seventeen." He repeated stupidly.

"I know how old my own daughter is." River said through gritted teeth; could that man never just give a straight answer? And he wondered why she always spoke in riddles. Well, she'd learnt from the best. Yet another paradox to add to the list.

"You see now, Doctor." Cearnaigh muttered, saying the name "Doctor" with an air of sarcasm, "The Fuath are not a violent race, but we have learnt the hard way that others are not always giving in their nature. Sometimes, the only way to survive is to take by force." In a way River knew he was right; they would never give up their child willingly, so taking her without permission was probably his best bet. But River was still confused.

"Doctor, what's going on?" she asked in exasperation. The Doctor sighed.

"Merry's a teenager." He started, brushing his hair from his face, "Human teenagers produce an enormous amount of hormones. But Merry's not human."

By now he was managing to stand separate from Rory, but the centurion was still watching his friend closely in concern as he began to wander around the droids nonchalantly, and make his way towards the centre of the room. He stopped when he was about the same distance from Merry and River as he was from Cearnaigh.

"So, what is she producing?" River asked.

"Well, I mean, she's producing the regular growth hormones, otherwise she wouldn't, you know…" the Doctor waved his arms about, clearly trying to express his words. After a short while he gave up and simply finished his sentence, "…grow. But being a Time Lord, she also produces a lot of regeneration energy." The Doctor began pacing, now verging on a full-blown lecture, "A child Time Lord can regenerate, of course, but only the once; they don't have enough power to do it twice during childhood. When they become teenagers, they begin building up that energy, and it'll end up lasting them their entire existence. Over a five year span, usually starting at about thirteen, a young Time Lord needs to experiment with their power and often they can be prone to certain… tantrums, I suppose, where they release a lot of that energy. It's part of their development and they have to learn to control it. By the time they're adults the energy can't be released or extracted as easily because they have a certain amount of control over it. Merry's a bit of a late developer; I expect that's because she hasn't been brought up in the right environment."

River nodded, processing the information as quickly as she could take it in. So, this creature needed Merry for that regenerative energy that she was beginning to produce and release. Well, tough titty, really. He wasn't coming anywhere near her. The Doctor now stopped pacing and approached the Fuath.

"So, you need Merry for the energy she's producing." He stated.

"Correct." Cearnaigh replied.

"You want my daughter just so that you can fly your ship away from here?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

"You make it sound like murder." The Fuath grumbled in annoyance.

"That's because it is!" the Time Lord cried. Cearnaigh remained silent. The Doctor sighed, "No one needs to be killed or have the life sucked out of them. There are other ways to fix this."

"And you're going to help, I suppose." Cearnaigh replied sarcastically. The Doctor grinned his signature grin, and held his hand out for the Fuath to shake.

"Why, yes. Yes I am."


	17. Take Her With You

**Note to readers: Just to let you guys know, _the italics are for Gallifreyan_. See how I wrote in Gallifreyan there? See? Give me one moment while I bask in my own awesomeness…And, we're done. Something tells me you chaps weren't basking with me, but I'll let it pass, seeing as I've been receiving some amazing reviews. It really means a lot to me that you comment on my progression. I really ought to review more. Usually I'm just so stunned that I express my feelings psychically, and then forget to actually write them down. What, so you don't pick up psychic transmissions? And that's my problem? Haha, kidding. Anyway, all jokes aside, I will try and work on it. I promise!**

The Doctor sat pensive at his daughter's bedside, watching her sleep peacefully. He tilted his head to the side, and then to the other side. She looked so much like him. In fact, it was almost scary how similar they were. And although most of her features resembled those of his current regeneration, her deep blue eyes matched those of his fourth self, she had the same cheek bones of his ninth self, and from his tenth body, she'd inherited the lankiness. The Doctor smiled and brushed a curl from her face gently. He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed almost silently. It was so serene, watching her sleep, that it almost put the Doctor into a trance. He was just about to nod off himself when River came in with a cup of tea.

"Ah, the famous tea lady returns." He whispered jokingly, taking the mug from her hands gladly. She smacked him lightly over the head.

"Watch it, mister, or next time I'll pour it down your back." She said, sitting herself on the edge of Merry's bed. The Doctor grinned and set the mug on the desk beside him. As River looked to her daughter, the Doctor studied his wife. He was still in slight awe of the situation. It was a difficult concept to grasp: at some point, they'd had a baby together. There were several things that he didn't quite understand, but he was willing to let those go for the time being, so that he could just enjoy the moment while it lasted.

"She's our daughter." The Doctor stated quietly. River turned to him and smiled.

"Yes, she is." She said.

"She's just like you." He added.

"But she looks like you." River corrected. The Doctor smiled. He couldn't explain it, he was just so damn proud to be a father again. But River's face dropped as she turned back to Merry and continued, "This will be the last time that she'll see you."

The Doctor's heart skipped a beat. He'd completely forgotten. He hadn't exactly been planning to stay, but all of a sudden he didn't want to ever leave. As if she had read his mind, River spoke again, not turning from her daughter.

"You can't just stay here forever." She said quietly, stroking Merry's head.

"I could." The Doctor retorted. River smiled.

"We both know that you'll never properly settle down; you just don't have it in you." She said sadly. As she looked at him with wide, dejected eyes, the Doctor felt his guilt tie a knot in his stomach. It seemed that all the pain they went through was because of him. Was it his fault? He hoped not, but he knew deep down inside that it probably was. He sighed heavily, but relatively soundlessly, trying not to wake Merry. Suddenly, River spoke again, "But you could…" She trailed off and looked away in embarrassment.

"I could what?" the Doctor asked, leaning forwards in his chair.

"You could… take her with you." River whispered, glancing at her daughter as the young girl stirred slightly.

The Doctor was dumbstruck. River sighed and rested her hand on his knee.

"Doctor, you know as well as I that she's too dangerous to have around human society now. You need to take her and teach her how to control her power." She said.

"She could wear the bio-damper. That'll stop it." He lied.

"No it won't, you know that." River retorted, "Why are you so afraid of taking her with you?"

"Because she'll find out that I'm not the man she thought I was." He hissed. River looked shocked.

"What's that meant to mean?" she asked.

"That she'll realise that I'm not a good man, and that even I break my morals at times." He sighed, "I don't want to ruin that illusion for her."

"She's almost eighteen. She's not a child anymore." River said. The Doctor frowned.

"I don't want her to get hurt." He said. That was his last ditch effort. He knew when a battle was lost, and this was it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to take Merry with him, because he definitely did, it was just… He wanted to be the perfect father, but he knew that he was far from it. While she was on Domicilia, she had no knowledge of the things he did in other times and places. But if she came with him, she would see his deeds with her own eyes. She would have first-hand experience of what the "mighty" Doctor had to do to save the innocent. He didn't want her to know any of that. None of it at all. And he wasn't lying; he did want her to be safe. And travelling with him was not very safe; in fact, it was the definition of the exact opposite. It was de-safe, dis-safe, non-safe or whatever. It just wasn't a place that he would voluntarily put his child in.

"And what about you?" the Doctor asked before River had the chance speak, "What would you do when she's gone?"

"I… I have work to do." River replied sadly.

"I'm not taking her without you." He argued, taking River's hand in his.

"Doctor, I-" she started.

"Do you really think I have any idea about how to deal with a teenage girl?" he asked sarcastically.

"You've done it before." River retorted with a smile.

"But not for a long time." He said, returning her grin. Deciding that she was clearly running out of arguments, the Doctor got off his chair and knelt down on one knee beside the bed, "Please, River Song." She laughed quietly and tried to pull her hand away, but he just pulled it closer to him.

"Doctor, stop it." She laughed.

"Please, please, please." He pleaded, kissing her hand, "We could go to Paris?"

"Paris?" she asked, dropping her guard slightly. Now he had her attention.

"1872." He added.

"What happens in 1872?" she asked curiously. The Doctor straightened up.

"Let's find out." He said. River shook her head.

"Doctor, I don't know." She said unsurely.

"_I'll do something __really__ romantic_." He growled seductively in her ear, watching as she shivered at the sound of his native tongue.

"_Keep talking_." She whispered back. He grinned. So she still knew Gallifreyan this early on in her time line? He could have a lot of fun with that knowledge.

"_We can send Amy, Rory and Merry off to explore. You and I could… go elsewhere_." He said, kissing her neck. She leant her body into him as she smiled, and began to breathe heavily in his ear.

Suddenly, there was a groaning noise. The Doctor looked up. He hadn't made that noise. He was pretty sure River hadn't, seeing as she was looking just as confused. So that meant…

"That's disgusting." Merry grumbled, pushing herself up into a sitting position as her parents cringed and moved apart. Sitting back in his chair, the Doctor muttered an apology, nonchalantly crossing his legs. River grinned quickly at him before straightening her expression and turning to her daughter.

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

"A bit nauseous. But personally, I think that that's your fault. I have a separate bedroom for a reason, you know." She said sarcastically, brushing her hair from her face wearily. The Doctor couldn't help but smile. River rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least you're feeling better." She sighed, patting her daughter's leg as she stood up, "You'd better go back to sleep; its past midnight."

As if adding an unspoken full-stop, River kissed her rather put off looking daughter on the forehead and left the room. Merry rubbed her eyes and looked to the Doctor.

"Aren't you going to go too? Or are you going to sit and watch me sleep?" she asked him. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I suppose I should probably go." He said. She nodded, yawning and then shaking her head, trying to stay awake. The Doctor smiled and stood up, tugging on Merry's bed sheets, "Come on then. Back to sleep." She gave in fairly promptly; clearly she was still worn-out from the evening's shenanigans. As she lay down, the Doctor pulled the duvet up to her shoulders and tucked her in tightly. Gently, he stroked and kissed her forehead.

"Night night, Pappy." She mumbled drowsily, "_I love you_." Both of the Doctor's hearts stopped at once at the sound of the Gallifreyan that rolled off his daughter's tongue as if it were her first language. Slightly stunned, he replied with a whisper.

"_I love you too_."


	18. Come Along Song

**Note to readers: It may interest you to know that I now have a plan for the whole fiction! Hurrah! But here's what's gunna happen: after this chapter they all go off in the TARDIS, yes? So, what I've decided is that I'll make a separate fiction for the adventures that they have. That way, for those of you who are purely interested in the River/Doctor aspect, Merry won't get in the way, and you can continue with this fiction. And for those of you who have grown attached to our little oddly-named gal-pal, you can always follow the separate adventures for which I have yet to create a name. River will, of course, be in the first adventure, in which they journey to Paris. Basically, I'm just skipping out that part in this fiction and getting straight onto the whole marriage/pregnancy/baby thing. I've even written the Doctor-I'm-pregnant scene in advance. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!**

For the Doctor and River, the rest of the night was spent doing, well, couple stuff. So, naturally, they were shattered by breakfast. Stumbling down the stairs, still not wholly awake, the Doctor followed River into the kitchen. Amy and Rory were sat at the table, in the middle of a conversation with Merry, who looked as if she were on the verge of passing out. Her skin was deathly pale, and yet it had a certain glow to it. The Doctor almost cried when he realised why. It was already starting. She was already beginning to show signs of her pre-regenerative phase. Now that she wasn't wearing the ring – both the Doctor and River knew that it wouldn't help her anymore – the radiance of a teenage Time Lord was visible.

The Doctor sat down beside his daughter and rubbed her shoulder as River put on some toast for herself and the Doctor.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked gently. Merry turned to him and forced a smile.

"Alright." She said. It was blatantly a lie.

"Technically you should be half left; if you were 'all right' you'd be going around in circles." He joked. Merry let out a childish giggle. He sighed and he asked again, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes and no." she replied seriously.

"What do you mean?" he asked in concern, frowning slightly.

"I feel… odd. I don't, I can't explain it." Merry said, rubbing her eyes, "It's a bit like a… tingling feeling, in the tips of my fingers and the palms of my hands. But it's in my head too." The Doctor nodded; he knew what that felt like.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, pulling Merry's hand closer to him and inspecting it. Sure enough, her veins were not only blue and purple, but also had a golden-orange colour to them.

"Not really," she replied, "But the headaches throb quite a lot."

"We can fix that." The Doctor replied as River sat down beside him, placing a plate of toast in front of him.

"What do you mean? How?" Merry asked eagerly. The Doctor looked to his wife, and she nodded. Turning back to his daughter, the Time Lord took a deep breath.

"I'm taking you with me." He said with a smile. Merry just blinked.

"What?" she said disbelievingly. At this he grinned wider.

"You're coming with me in the TARDIS." He repeated.

"Really?" she cried, jumping up and down a little in her seat, "What about Mum?"

"She's coming too." He said.

"But only for a little while." River added, as her daughter became increasingly excited. Merry's skin grew brighter and for a moment or two she seemed to glow gold. The Doctor shot Amy and Rory a meaningful I'll-explain-later-but-not-now glance as he saw their jaws drop. He didn't want Merry to worry.

"That's amazing!" the young girl laughed, wrapping her arms around her father, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kissing him on the cheek she hugged him tighter. He laughed and pushed her away.

"Well, go and get packing then." He said. She grinned at her parents before hurrying out of the room and up the stairs to her room.

As soon as she was gone, his three friends turned to look at him incredulously.

"Are you crazy?" Amy asked, "She's coming with us? What if she gets hurt?" The Doctor almost smiled as her still developing motherly instinct kicked in.

"Yeah, and why did she go all… yellow-y?" Rory added in confusion.

"OK. You," he said, indicating to Amy, "Yes, yes and no, she won't. I won't let that happen."

"But-" she started.

"Ah, bah bah bah." The Doctor said, silencing her and then turning to Rory, "And you, because she's a teen Time Lord and that's what they do."

"But-" Rory began.

"Ah, bah bah ba-ah!" The Doctor exclaimed impatiently. The Ponds fell silent. Contently, he turned to River, "Are you happy with this?"

"Yes." River confirmed, "She can take care of herself, that's the way I raised her. And besides, you need to teach her all the ins and outs of being a Time Lord." The Doctor nodded satisfactorily.

"But when you were Merry's age we would never have dreamed of letting you do anything of the sort!" Amy argued angrily. River turned to her mother and rolled her eyes.

"Oh please," she said in exasperation, "I haven't even been conceived yet."

Amy stayed silent, looking guiltily down at her lap. As she bit her lip, Rory turned to her. Noticing his wife's expression, his jaw dropped.

"Now? You tell me now?" he cried in disbelief.

"If it makes you feel any better, I was going to tell you tonight." She said, grinning sheepishly. Rory laughed, hugging his wife tightly.

"That's amazing!" he cried, kissing her passionately. As River wrinkled her nose in disgust, she and the Doctor turned to each other. Slyly, they exited the room.

"Perhaps you should go and pack too." The Doctor commented as they wandered up the hall, away from the happy chatter of the Ponds. River nodded, heading up the stairs. Half way up, she paused.

"You know, could always help me." She said teasingly. She didn't need to ask twice.

It was mid-afternoon before everyone was packed and ready to go. Being a Sunday afternoon, sector 8.3 was relatively quiet. Amy and Rory were the first into the TARDIS, Rory volunteering himself to do the donkey work, purely because his wife was hell-bent on lifting the heavy bags. Naturally, he felt that this was wrong in her condition and ended up fetching and carrying continuously, with Amy following him backwards and forwards, ranting about how pregnancy wasn't a "condition". River assisted her father in preventing the angry Scot from doing herself a mischief.

By the time the three of them were safely in the TARDIS, the Doctor noticed that he had lost track of Merry in the commotion. Eventually, he found her in the empty park, sitting on one of the swings. He casually sat down beside her on the second swing.

"You'll be coming back." He said in an attempt to comfort her. She forced a smile.

"You think I want to?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, you grew up here; it's your home." He retorted in confusion.

"And it'll always be special to me, it's just… I never really fitted in." she admitted, "I've always been a freak… Who knew intelligence could be such a curse?" The Doctor laughed in agreement.

"It won't be in the future." He said. Merry turned to him.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked.

"Because I have faith in you." He commented, patting her knee.

"Really?" she asked. The Doctor was slightly shocked by her uncertainty.

"Of course. Always." He replied.

"And you think that I can do this?" she asked shyly.

"Do what?" he said.

Merry laughed.

"You don't need to hide it from me." She said, "I know something's happening to me. It's just the way you and Mum look at me. You look at me like I'm some kind of bomb that could explode at any second." The Doctor looked down guiltily. Suddenly, Merry asked quietly, "I'm going to be OK though, aren't I?"

"Of course you are!" he said, grinning widely at her. She smiled back hesitantly as he jumped up and pulled her with him. Beaming at her, the Time Lord pulled his daughter towards the TARDIS, "Come along, Song; we have aliens to fight."


	19. Interlude

**Note to readers: And this is where the fiction splits. Rather like a banana. But not as messy and sticky. Or yellow. Anyways, now I'll be writing two stories at once so I won't be updating as often, and I might go through a blitz of writing just the one for a while, then change to the other. Maybe I didn't think this whole "split" thing through… Never mind. I'm having quite a tricky time coming up with a name for the travelling fiction, so any suggestions will be welcome! And thank you all so much for the support; it really does mean a lot.**

After making a phone call to her school and telling them that she had been pulled out to be home-tutored, Merry travelled with the Doctor for a good year or so in the TARDIS. Rory and Amy only stayed with them for the one trip to Paris before being dropped off back at home. After that, River didn't stay long either. She said that she had "work" to do. The Doctor disliked the fact that she was withholding information from him, and no matter how many times he slept with her, she still wouldn't say a thing. In the end, he gave up and accepted that he would find out one day. He took her back to Domicilia and, after a long goodbye, he and Merry went off again.

They travelled far and wide, meeting more than a few past – or future – enemies of the Doctor. He told her stories that he wouldn't have told her when she was younger. Some were of adventures that he'd had with past companions; others were of battles he'd had with mortal foes. But most of them were of Gallifrey, and the Golden Age of the Time Lords. He even spoke of the Last Great Time War. It was only then that he discovered that he had never told her that there were no more Time Lords left. He didn't understand why he'd never mentioned it before. But that night she cried herself to sleep in his arms. That was why he hadn't told her. In fact, that was the last time that the Great Time War was spoken of in full during any of their conversations.

Merry often had questions to ask. On a number of occasions she did the Doctor's head in with the amount of things she didn't understand. But he still taught her a great deal. Primarily, he taught her how to control her emotions, because it was those that triggered regenerative tantrums. Gradually she came to accept that it wasn't the done thing, and she ended up mastering her powers fairly quickly, seeing as it took a normal Time Lord five years to control their outbursts and a further decade to fully understand why that was necessary. Of course, she never did wholly conquer her emotions and she still became frustrated when she couldn't appreciate the mechanics of a situation.

During one final trip, the Doctor took Merry to visit Amy and Rory in their time. They spent most of their visit trying to wrap their head around the fact that baby Melody would one day become River Song. The Doctor, Merry, and the Pond family then took a small trip to London, where they bumped into an old – or young, depending on how you view it – friend of the Doctor's. Much to the Time Lord's surprise, this certain friend took rather a liking to Merry. And, due to certain circumstances, he ended up dropping Merry back at home with – although the Doctor hated to admit it – probably a prospective boyfriend.

The Doctor then returned to the Ponds, in hope of some comfort. Of course, chaos followed from there, including a run in with Madame Kovarian and a number of head-lacking monks. River reappeared and at great length the whole mystery was sorted out. Rory, Amy and Melody were returned to their own time, as was River.

After that, the Doctor found himself working his way backwards along his daughter's time line until he reached just after her thirteen birthday. River sat him down, explaining what he had told them in his last visit. Heartbroken, the Doctor left Merry and River, knowing that, from now on, he would have to travel linearly. In some ways, it was rather comforting to know that they would be travelling in the same direction. In other ways, it rather took the excitement out of being a time-traveller; what was the point in a time-machine if you were just going to live a linear life anyway?

The Doctor travelled alone for a short while, regularly stopping in on Amy, Rory and little Melody, whose personality was so River-like it was almost painful. But soon enough, the concerned Ponds suggested that he meet up with River, as he was clearly missing her. Willingly, he agreed and landed his TARDIS at some point along the archaeologist's time line. Little did he realise how early on he had landed…


	20. Put Some Clothes On

**Note to readers: Just a quick ask, please, please, please if you have any suggestions they are much appreciated. As well as the Doctor-I'm-pregnant scene, I have now written the birth scene and it is a shocker, but kinda cute. Hope you like this chapter first, as we still have a little while until I get to the marriage/pregnancy/baby bit. Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I've been rather busy. But I have a plan! Thank you so much for the reviews, by the way. They really mean a lot to me.**

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, swinging his jacket over his shoulder. Sniffing the air, the Doctor nodded in satisfaction. It was the fiftieth century. He still didn't quite know how River had jumped from the twenty-first century to the fiftieth, but he was in a good mood, so it didn't really matter to him. All that mattered was that he was going to see his wife again. Frowning, the Doctor began to wander the city street he had found himself in. He didn't even know if they were married yet. That was a problem. He shook his head and continued walking, surveying his surroundings.

The street around him was bustling with people, the majority of them in their twenties or thirties. He sniffed the air again. It was definitely a Wednesday. He probably could have landed better, but at least it wasn't a Tuesday. Such an unfortunate name for a day: Tuesday. Shaking his head, the Time Lord focused on his goal. He had no idea where River was, which was a tiny problem, seeing as he was on what looked like a central city street.

He tapped the shoulder of a young man leant against the iron railings outside one of the strict looking buildings.

"Excuse me, but where am I exactly?" he asked. The man looked him up and down, his dirty blonde hair falling in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he laughed.

"Well, someone's had a rough night." He said, patting the Doctor on the shoulder before continuing patronisingly, "You're at University, mate." The Doctor looked around in shock.

"This whole place is a University." He asked incredulously.

"Yeah." The blonde guy replied, studying the oddly dressed man before him, "Listen, mate, is there someone I can return you to? I don't want you wandering around alone in your state."

"Aw, that's nice!" the Doctor exclaimed with a grin, but he ignored the offer. After a few seconds of watching the people walk by him, and seeing no one who looked at all like River, he turned back to the young man, "In fact, yes. Do you know where I could find River Song?" The blonde guy frowned.

"River Song?" he repeated, "No idea."

"Melody Pond?" the Doctor asked. At this, the young man before him grinned.

"You're looking for Melody Pond?" he asked incredulously. The Doctor nodded, slightly confused by his reaction. The man laughed and pointed over the Time Lord's shoulder, "She's the one with the curls."

The Doctor turned around and, sure enough, he saw her, standing in the middle of a group of friends. But this wasn't the River Song, or Melody Pond for that matter, that he knew. This one was a lot younger. She couldn't have been much older than her early twenties. But what made his jaw drop was what she was wearing: a tremendously revealing white frock. Men who walked past almost drooled at the sight of her exposed skin. The Doctor felt like punching each and every one of them completely senseless. She was as beautiful as ever; her smile was radiant and her curls bounced as she moved. Her hair glistened in the sunlight, causing it to seem red at certain angles.

"Hey, Melody!" the blonde guy shouted, before the Doctor had the chance to shut him up, "This guy's been looking for you!" At this, she turned around. Her smile fell in shock as she recognised him.

"Doctor!" she cried, running towards him as her smile returned. He couldn't help but grin back as he swept her into his arms and kissed her full-on. She pulled away looking slightly surprised and he dropped her back to the ground awkwardly. Whoops. Perhaps they hadn't done that much yet.

"_I've missed you_." He said gently in her ear. She giggled.

"What language is that?" she laughed. He was crushed. She didn't even know Gallifreyan.

"How early on is this for you?" he asked quietly as she waved to her friends and pulled him down a less busy backstreet.

"Fairly early." She answered, "But not too early." Suddenly, as they were out of view from the main street, she pushed him roughly against the wall and kissed him, standing on her tiptoes. The Doctor struggled away.

"Melody…" he muttered in embarrassment, not really accustomed to calling her by her birth name. She laughed and took his hand, pulling him further down the street.

"I'm sorry." She said, batting her eyelids at him. He smiled involuntarily at her innocence.

"That's alright." He replied, "But do you know what's not alright?"

"What?" she asked curiously.

"That dress." He commented. She laughed, letting go of his hand and giving him a twirl.

"Do you like it?" she asked, "The white symbolises my virginity."

The Doctor swallowed loudly. He was fairly sure that it wasn't a joke. How did he know? Well, she promptly looked at him with wide, imploring eyes, running her hands temptingly over her body. It took the Doctor all of his strength to look away.

"No, I'm not like that." He retorted flatly, leaving no room for an argument. Or so he thought.

"Please, Doctor!" she cried, "You have no idea how much my friends make fun of me because of this."

"Well, clearly they're not very good friends." He commented, determined not to be swayed so easily.

"My friends aren't important." She snapped. The Doctor almost smiled at her sudden change of face, "I want this!"

"Well I don't. Not yet." He said.

"You're waiting for marriage, aren't you?" she said, "If you are, then marry me!"

"Fine. Yes, I'm waiting for marriage. And no, I will not." He sighed; she was so tiring young.

"I hate you." She said, flouncing off down the street. The Doctor rolled his eyes. Time obviously didn't change her much though.

As he followed her towards what was clearly her dorm, the Doctor had time to think. He hated calling her Melody. Not because he hated the name – in fact, he loved it – but because whenever he called her that, he couldn't help but think of the tiny little baby he'd somehow managed to save from being used as a tool. He watched her walk in front of him. She turned around every now and again, checking to make sure he was still following her. It seemed that, for now, he was in the place of power. It felt surreal. Ever since he had met River Song all those years ago he had wondered what it would feel like to be the one in the know. Now that time was here. And it was odd.

"Where are you going?" he called after her, deciding to play along with her little game. She tossed her hair a bit before stopping and turning to face him, one hand on her hip.

"To my room." She said, adding as he grinned smugly, "And you're not invited." She smiled triumphantly as his face fell in mock hurt.

"But I have a sonic screwdriver; I don't need your permission." He pointed out, stopping about five metres away from her. Her face scrunched up as she tried to think of an argument.

"Well… I'll deal-lock seal my door." She said. He almost laughed at the irony; one day she would.

"You don't know how to use a deal-lock seal." He said, making a mental note never to teach her.

Melody's eyes scanned his face, looking desperately as she tried to find a way out of the mess she was now in. After finding none she simply huffed and stormed away from him, taking a right up some steps to a door. He smiled and followed her, studying the outside of the building. It didn't look very fiftieth century; it was a very old-school style University building. She tapped in the code and went in, making sure to wait until she could slam the door in his face. He simply waved the sonic at the lock and the door clicked open.

Just as he had expected, Melody was waiting on the stairs for him. As soon as he peered around the door, she glared at him and huffed up the stairs. The hallway was fairly dim. There were a few other doors down the corridor, all of them marked with numbers. But the Doctor was more interested in following his… friend? Wife? Future wife? Time travel definitely had its down sides. Whoever she was, he followed her up the stairs and to the left, watching as she used a fingerprinting device to open her door. He waited for her to shut the door before sonic-ing the small panel and letting the door swing open with ease.

Melody was lying on her bed, an amused smile playing across her face as the Time Lord shut the door behind him and tossed the sonic in the air arrogantly, before putting it back in his pocket.

"Told you." He commented. She laughed, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and walking across the room towards him. Wrapping her arms around his neck she spoke.

"You were right; you're a genius." She whispered. He grinned.

"I know." He replied, "And you're not exactly as thick as two short planks either." She laughed, causing his hearts to leap in canon; she sounded exactly like River.

"Is that what you like? Clever girls?" she asked teasingly.

"They do have a certain appeal." He answered, beginning to get slightly concerned as she kissed his neck passionately. She smiled against his skin and pulled away from him to speak.

"What about sexy girls?" she asked, running her hand down his thigh, looking delighted as he squirmed slightly, pressing himself against the door.

"River, please." He groaned.

For a moment, she pulled away.

"Who's River?" she asked, her voice layered with hurt. He froze.

"No one. Forget it." He said quickly, sliding past her and into the middle of the room. It took Melody a few seconds to hide her pain; it was obviously still something she was getting used to. After that, determination quickly became the expression on her face.

"How about I make you forget her." She suggested mischievously. The Doctor frowned, and was about to ask what she meant, when she lowered her hands down the bottom of her skirts. Before he could stop her, she had pulled the dress clean over her head and thrown it carelessly to the floor. Instinctively, he closed his eyes. But the image of Melody stood purely in her underwear still resonated in his mind and burned the insides of his eyes.

"Melody," he said carefully, "Please, put some clothes on." He heard her laugh gently. Oh great, she was closer than before. Or was she just louder? He heard something else hit the floor. Nope, definitely closer. And only metres away.

"I've taken my bra off." She whispered suddenly in his ear. He twitched slightly at the sound of her voice. With his eyes closed he could almost imagine it was really River standing almost completely naked in front of him. But it wasn't. This was Melody. The terrified Time Lord backed away, but managed to stumble backwards onto the bed. Falling flat on his back he tried desperately to get back up again. But Melody had taken this as an advantage and swiftly pressed him back down, climbing on top so that she was straddling him. Perhaps he hadn't really thought this whole "shutting of eyes" thing through.

Without warning, she gripped his hand and began pulling it towards her. He tried to pull away, but she was surprisingly strong. Yet another thing that age wouldn't weary. He felt his hand unwilling being run up the side of her body. Soon enough, he found himself with one hand pushing her away by the hip and the other hand on her chest.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise and a voice echoed around the room.

"Oh… Sorry, Melody."


	21. Not Quite Done Yet

**Note to readers: Sorry it's taking me so long to upload these chapters; there's just been a lot of unexpected business going on. But chapter 21 is finally here! I was reading through the birth scene last night and I so badly wanted to post that and get a move on, but I figured that it would just make the fiction terrible if I rushed it. But things are going to happen: in the next chapter! And thank you again for your support! Cheerio. **

There was an awkward pause before Melody got off the Doctor. Then there was a shuffling noise and the sound of the door shutting.

"Doctor, you remember my roommate, Lilly." Melody commented calmly. The Doctor hesitantly opened his eyes. The young Pond was now fully dressed and was stood beside a girl who had what looked like a blonde afro. Her ripped jeans and baggy tie-dye t-shirt made her look a bit like an old-style hippy. He didn't recognise her at all, but nodded anyway.

"Lilly, of course." He said, sitting up and straightening his bow-tie. Lilly didn't look bothered at all by the situation, simply giving the Doctor a quick head nod and sitting down on her bed, which was tucked behind the door. She pulled out several heavy looking folders and began making notes. Melody, who was seemingly put off by the interruption, turned to the Doctor.

"I'm just going to freshen up and then we can go out for dinner." She said, giving a pointed look to Lilly, who basically ignored the gesture and continued working. Rolling her eyes, Melody went into the bathroom.

"It's a good thing I walked in." Lilly commented once her roommate was out of earshot.

"What?" the Doctor asked stupidly. Lilly smiled.

"Well, from the looks of things, I'd say Melody was just about to rape you." She said plainly, looking up at him. The Time Lord smiled sheepishly.

"She's freakishly strong." He replied. Lilly laughed.

"What are you two laughing about?" Melody asked, walking back into the room, tying her hair in two plaits. Neither of them replied and Lilly quickly went back to her work. The Doctor stood up, eager to get out of the room.

"Right, let's go." He said, rubbing his hands together and opening the door, calling after him, "Bye Lilly." She mumbled a similar goodbye, but her following sarcastic comment – which sounded a bit like "good luck" – was cut off by Melody shutting the door behind them.

They walked back out of the dorm and onto the street in relative silence. The rest of the walk to the pub Melody had selected was spent discussing where they were in each other's timelines. The Doctor explained that he had been travelling alone for a while, making sure to miss out any mentions of Merripen. She explained that she was in the middle of her third and final year studying archaeology at University; apparently, it was so big that it didn't need any other name. By the time they had reached the pub, the air was no longer as awkward as it had been before, and the Doctor had almost forgotten his cares from earlier. He probably should have realised that that wouldn't last for very long.

"So, what will you have, sir?" asked the rather bored looking waiter.

"I'll have the full English breakfast." The Doctor said, "With a side of jelly babies."

"It's twenty past six. And we don't sell jelly babies." The waiter replied flatly.

"So? There's no time limit on food." The Time Lord argued, "And what rubbish pub doesn't sell jelly babies?" Melody rolled her eyes and looked to the waiter.

"Just give him the breakfast. Ignore the jelly babies." She said. He opened his mouth to protest, but he was swiftly cut off by her request, "I'll have the same." Completely forgetting about the devastating loss of jelly babies, the Doctor grinned. The waiter took note and walked away as the Doctor looked around. The large pub was warm and friendly and reminded him of the "family" dinner that they had had in Paris, 1872. Many students were sat at the bar, or were just standing around making conversation. There were no sad faces in sight. Well, not many, anyway.

Melody got his attention back by holding onto his hand. Slightly startled, the Time Lord looked back to her with an open mouth. She smiled in response.

"So, do you have anywhere you need to get going to?" she asked, running a finger along his hand.

"Nope." He said with a grin, "I'm all yours." At that, she smiled widely.

"You could stay the night." She suggested. The Doctor's hearts dropped and he pulled away his hand with a sigh. She looked hurt, "What did I do?" He shook his head.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." He said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Yes, it does." She argued, quickly becoming frustrated, "You've been acting weird ever since you saw me this afternoon. What's wrong? Tell me." He looked into her pleading eyes and his hearts broke a little. Why should he lie to her? She deserved to hear the truth. And besides, he wasn't in the mood to play games. He would rather just say what he felt. They'd been apart for too long.

He took a deep breath.

"I… I haven't seen you in years." He said, not quite knowing where to begin, "The last time I saw you, you were…" He found himself unable to finish his sentence. Melody studied his eyes in concern.

"I was what?" she asked, attempting to encourage him.

"You weren't you." He said helplessly. She frowned.

"What's that meant to mean?" she asked, "I am me. I will always be me."

"No, I mean, you were older, different." He said, "You weren't little Melody Pond."

"I still don't understand." She replied. By now the Doctor felt like crying. He had no idea how to express what he meant and he didn't have a clue whether this was a good idea or not, but he had to try.

"When I think of you as Melody, I think of the tiny baby that I saved from a terrible fate. I think of a little girl who knew nothing of the horrors of the world. So when you look at me like I'm… like you want me, I just can't… I just…" the Doctor cut himself off with a strangled sob. Frantically trying to control his emotions, he rubbed his eyes, blinking back the tears that he was afraid to cry. Suddenly, he felt Melody pull his hands from his face. Her expression was so understanding, yet at the same time, confused.

"But who else would you think of me as?" she asked gently, tilting her head to the side. Taking a deep breath, he replied.

"River." He said truthfully.

"I swear, if you say that name one more time-" Melody started, pulling away.

"No." The Doctor said, grabbing hold of her hands and evidently taking her by surprise, "You are River."

She simply blinked.

"I'm River?" She repeated slowly. The Doctor couldn't help but smile.

"Yes." He whispered.

"You weren't saying another woman's name?" she asked.

"No." he replied.

"So, when you said that I'm not me, you meant that I'm not River." She said, a frown creasing in her forehead.

"No. You're not quite done yet." He replied. There was a sudden paused. The crease in Melody's forehead slowly vanished as she was hit by a look of overwhelming realisation.

"You're going to leave me, aren't you? You're only going to come back when I'm River." She said sadly.

"What? No!" the Doctor cried in shock, "Melody, of course not. I'm not going anywhere. I'll just need time to adapt. You may not be River, but I still love you."

Melody froze and, as the Doctor realised what he had said, so did he.

"You love me?" she asked, almost disbelievingly.

"I… I…" he stuttered, "Well… Yes." A broad smile covered the young Pond's face as she laughed gleefully.

"I love you too." She replied happily, leaning across the table to kiss him. Oddly, kissing Melody didn't feel strange any more. A part of him still felt uneasy, but now that part was almost gone. His faith had been renewed in her reaction: at first confusion, then anger, and finally, happiness. From then on he knew that she was definitely going to be the River Song he knew from the future. Her future.

After their dinner, they went for a walk through the University and Melody gave the Doctor a tour of the archaeology department. Most of her tour was spent listening to Time Lord's pompous prattle about how archaeology was a load of rubbish. Melody soon became bored with that and so dragged him out and back to her dorm. Lilly was already asleep, so they had to sneak in quietly. To end a perfect night, they stayed up and talked softly, Melody finally falling asleep in the Doctor's arms.

And the best part of the evening? The corner shop sold jelly babies.


	22. Promises Must Be Kept

**Note to readers: Updating will be slow, what with two fictions and a complete blank going down, so sorry in advance. This chapter involves some seriously badly written poetry by yours truly. I try. I really really do. And also, sorry for the cliff-hanger. OK, I lie; I'm not sorry about the cliff-hanger. But still, the thought is/was/will be there. Also, I have written and recorded a song called "Amy's Lament - A Song For Melody" and I've posted it on YouTube if you wanted to check that out. I would love you forever if you left a comment on it. Ta!**

Melody, of course, had studying to do the next day. The Doctor decided not to stay and help, seeing as he knew that he would just end up scoffing at her work, which couldn't really count as help from any angle. He promised her that he would come back soon though and he seriously intended to keep that promise. But, like always, the TARDIS had other plans…

"Right! What day is it today, Sexy? How long have we been gone for?" the Doctor asked cheerfully, yanking the monitor around the TARDIS console. He pressed a few buttons overenthusiastically. As the screen bleeped and the Doctor looked up, his face fell, "July? But… But I've been gone for months!" The TARDIS whirred in nonchalant agreement and the angry Time Lord cursed in Gallifreyan, "She's going to kill me!"

He threw on his jacket and ran out of the doors. He was in the same part of the street that he had been before, except this time, the streets were lined with decorations. The sun was shining in the crystal clear sky, yet it wasn't too hot. The Doctor ran along the street, heading for Melody's dormitory, weaving in and out of all the people going in the opposite direction. All the students walking past were dressed formally, some wearing… black gowns. It was graduation day.

Sprinting even faster, the Doctor buzzed open the door and bounded up the stairs, in his hurry not even noticing a woman with startling red hair stood nearby. Deciding that breaking the door down, although an impressive entry, probably wouldn't help in his current predicament, he hammered on the door.

"Melody! Melody, open up! I'm late, I know; I'm sorry!" he cried desperately, "Melody, it's me." Suddenly, the door was pulled open a slit, stopped by the small metal chain across it, and Lilly peered through the gap.

"To put it nicely, she told you to go away." The blonde girl said plainly. She tried to shut the door, but the Time Lord shoved his foot in the gap. Wincing as the pain hit his nerves, but knowing that he probably deserved it, the Doctor spoke.

"Please, Lilly. Let me in. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen; she knows that. I know she does." He pleaded, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes. But Lilly wasn't phased.

"No means no." she insisted, attempting again to shut the door. The Doctor cried out in pain.

"Fine." He growled through gritted teeth, "If I have to force my way in, I will." He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and put it on setting 42. Buzzing it at the chain, the tough metal quickly fell away and the Doctor used all of his strength to push Lilly, who was now using her full body weight, out of the way.

Eventually he did, and he burst into the room, looking around frantically.

"Melody!" he called as he noticed her. She was stood by the window, near Lilly's bed. Her arms were crossed across her chest protectively, and tears were streaming down her face, upsetting her perfectly applied makeup. He ran towards her, "Melody, I am so sorry." But she jerked herself away from him as he tried to touch her arm. Sniffling, she wiped her eyes carefully, trying not to ruin her makeup further.

"Get out." She said quietly, not even looking in his eyes. His hearts almost shattered in heartbreak as he heard the pain in her voice.

"No, please. I meant to come back, I really did. But the TARDIS had a bad landing-" he started.

"I said, get out." She repeated. He completely froze; he had no idea what to say. She looked briefly to him, "Doctor, I want you to leave."

"But the TARDIS-" he said.

"Oh, why don't you just marry her then." Melody snapped bitterly. He stepped back, knowing that she was going to give him a lecture that he would never forget, "I waited for you. Every day I woke up thinking that it would be the day you came back for me. I should have known better. I should have known that you would just leave me like you've left everyone else. I thought I was special to you. That's what you told me anyway. But maybe I'm just really gullible. And you know what? I thought that the next time you saw me you would propose. Well, now I just feel stupid. Happy?" By now she had managed to back the Doctor up against the far wall.

"Propose?" he asked quietly.

The word was echoing around his head like a wasp around a pot of jam. Marriage? Were they ready for that? It felt like a gun shot, that word. For so long he had been afraid of commitment; he preferred travelling with no ties. But when he had found out that he and River were married, he had been so happy. And he'd missed it. Well, now he knew.

"Oh, rub it in why don't you." She said harshly, a strangled sob breaking through her words.

"I wasn't." he replied softly, catching her by surprise, "Melody, I love you." For a moment, he thought that she would have a change of heart. But she only moved to the door and held it open for him.

"You need to go." She said flatly, "I have a graduation to attend and my parents are waiting to walk me there." He almost considered not leaving, but the look on her face showed him how much he had hurt her, and he didn't want to have to make that worse. Nodding in defeat, he left, pausing by the door as he went. No sooner than the door had shut behind him, he heard Melody burst into uncontrollable tears. He cursed under his breath and made his way out of the building, his shoulders sagging in total and utter defeat.

Stepping out into the sun, the Doctor had barely become accustomed to the difference in light when he was almost knocked off his feet by a head of blinding red hair.

"Doctor!" Amy cried, hugging him tightly. He squeezed her gently then pushed her back, forcing a smile as she looked at him in confusion. The Time Lord turned awkwardly to Rory, giving him a quick man hug. The Scot frowned, "Doctor, are you OK?"

"I was just talking to Melody." He said sadly, "Well actually, she was shouting at me and I was trying to say sorry." With that, he caved completely sitting down on the top step with his head in his hands.

"What were you apologising for?" Rory asked in fatherly concern as his wife sat down on the steps too in an attempt to comfort the clearly distraught Time Lord.

"I was late." He replied, "I saw her in about January or February and promised to come back soon. But I landed badly and ended up here." Rory nodded simply.

Suddenly, the Doctor just couldn't stop talking. He wanted someone to talk to and it didn't really register with him that he was talking to Melody's parents until it was too late.

"We got off to a bit of a rocky start last time. I mean, I ended up telling her that she would be River one day. But before that was awkward because she wanted me to have sex with her, but I said that I wouldn't until we were married. She took that badly and decided that she would try and seduce me by stripping. Anyway, I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see and it turned out that that wasn't a well thought through plan. But I thought that we'd made up with the whole River thing…" he babbled helplessly, standing up in frustration, only to come face to face with a rather displeased looking centurion.

"As much as you being with my daughter makes my skin crawl and can occasionally cause minor convulsions, I really do appreciate you taking her… innocence seriously." He said, clapping the Doctor on the shoulder in a friendly motion. The Time Lord simply looked at him in shock.

"Well, I… yes, no problem." He stuttered, "I suppose I'm just a traditional man."

"Good." Rory replied, "It takes a very strong, and sometimes stupid, man to deny Melody what she wants."

"Is that your… approval?" the Doctor asked timidly. Rory glared at him.

"No." he said flatly.

"OK…" the Time Lord replied.

Suddenly, the door opened and Melody and Lilly, both dressed in graduation gowns, stepped out into the street. The Ponds instantly turned their attention to their daughter and Amy squealed in delight. The Doctor watched enviously from the side as Amy and Rory fussed over Melody, taking turns to take pictures: Melody and Lilly, Melody and her parents. The Time Lord shyly offered to take a picture of all four of them together. He did so, but he couldn't help but feel that Melody was staring at him the whole time. Perhaps she was just looking at the camera, but her gaze still burnt his skin.

As they were just about to head off to the Great Hall for the ceremony, Melody stopped to talk to the Doctor.

"Why are you still here? I thought I told you to leave." She said sharply, ignoring the fact that her parents could hear her every word. With a quick glance to the Ponds, he spoke bravely.

"I'm here to support you." He said, "It's your graduation and I'm not going to miss it. I'm staying." She studied his face for a while before simply turning away and heading in the same direction as the crowds. As she looked away from him, he could have sworn he saw some sign of approval. Amy and Rory smiled almost thankfully at him before following.

As he walked behind them he was able to observe that time hadn't really changed them much at all. Obviously they didn't look as young as they used to, but they didn't look old either. It was an odd thought really. The Doctor didn't really have to worry much about aging; the more times a Time Lord regenerated, the slower they aged. It never really occurred to him that humans aged quite rapidly in comparison, and that nothing could stop that.

He was still wondering whether some potion or something had been used on the Ponds to make them look so young by the time that they reached the hall. Amy and Rory said goodbye to the girls and the Doctor wished them luck before finding a seat, luckily near the aisle. The ceremony itself was actually fairly plain. Nothing much happened. Speeches were made and half of the audience looked bored to death by the time Melody's name was announced. Amy squealed quietly with pride as her and Rory's daughter took to the stage to read some of her own poetry. But the short section of verse that she read out made his hearts stop and cause him to feel physically sick.

"This is called 'Promises Must Be Kept'." She began, taking a deep breath before beginning.

"A promise is a vow of honesty  
>And honesty is the foundation of love.<br>Love is a bond that can never break,  
>As it falls from the heavenly skies above.<p>

But what is a bond that cannot break  
>If dishonesty gets in its way?<br>What is a connection worth to us both  
>If pain and suffering is what we must pay?<p>

If it's something about me, my love, let me know  
>And I'll readily fix what I've done.<br>But I think, if we're honest, it's not at all me,  
>Only you and your life on the run.<p>

For a virtuous vow of honesty  
>Is a promise you shouldn't accept,<br>If it's always replaced by excuses and lies.  
>A promise is a promise and must be kept."<p>

There was a silent paused before the audience began clapping. Tears were streaming freely down the Doctor's face as he stood up, and Melody made to walk off stage.

"Melody Pond," he cried loudly, making sure that everyone could hear, "I love you! And I know that I hurt you, but you have to forgive me. I know it sounds bad but, you're the only thing that I have left in my life and I don't want to lose you, not like this. If there was one thing that I would give my life for over and over and over again, it's you. It has always been you." The Doctor could have continued. He could have spoken until each and every person in that room withered and died. But he knew that talking was just a tool to stop him from doing what he wanted to do most, from what he needed to do.

The Doctor knew what he had to do. And it was now or never.


	23. His Mother's Ring

Taking something from his inside pocket, the Doctor looked into Melody's eyes. It was his mother's ring. She'd given it to him when he had gone to the Academy on Gallifrey and he always had it on him. But he'd never found it of any use to him. Until now.

He took a deep breath and knelt down on one knee. The crowd around him gasped in shock and thousands of eyes burned his face. But that didn't matter to him. He could only see her. She looked at him in utter astonishment, completely frozen. Her anger seemed long forgotten and the Doctor could almost see the River Song that he knew so well. The professors looked around frantically, hoping that someone would sort out this interruption. But everyone was watching the Time Lord. It was obvious what he was about to do, but they still wanted to see it happen. A declaration of love this public rarely happened and so it was seen almost as a miracle. The Doctor cleared his throat and finally spoke, breaking the tense silence.

"Melody Pond, will you marry me?" he asked. There was a kerfuffle from the side lines as Amy tried hopelessly to hold back a rather furious looking Rory. But the Doctor couldn't care less. He was watching the young girl before him. Her mouth opened and closed continuously, as if she wanted to reply, but hadn't the air in her lungs to do so. As if a sudden force had taken control of her body, Melody began walking off the stage, around the podium and down the aisle towards him. She stopped when she was a metre away and simply looked down at him. The Doctor stayed where he was: knelt on the floor with the simple worn silver ring in his hand.

She knelt down in front of him, tracing the tear tracks on his cheeks. Soon she smiled and nodded.

"Yes." She whispered. The Doctor simply gaped at her as the whole hall erupted into cries of joy and congratulations. Her heard Amy's laugh and Melody's giggle. But he ignored it all, simply taking his fiancée's face in his hands and pressing his lips to hers. They pushed their bodies together, not bothering to rise from the floor. They forgot the world around them as pure bliss rushed through their veins, making their hearts pump together. She had turned his samba to a minuet: three hearts beating as one beautiful sound. They kissed passionately, running their hands over each other's bodies. He wanted her so badly that he didn't even notice Rory forcing his way past Amy. He didn't realise the peril that his actions had put him in until a dull thud echoed through his skull and he fell unconscious to the floor.

The Doctor woke up in the entrance hall, the bright fluorescent lights hurting his eyes as he sat up. He was on the floor, at the side. The attendees of the ceremony were walking out of the hall, talking to their parents and friends as they left. The Doctor groaned and rubbed his head. It throbbed slightly under the pressure and made him wince.

"Sorry about that." Rory said sheepishly. The Time Lord looked up to see the centurion towering over him. Rory helped him onto his feet, but this only caused severe dizziness.

"What the hell did you hit me with?" he cried, using Rory as a support.

"A chair leg." Rory said simply. The Doctor didn't even have the energy to ask about it, so he just let his friend continue, "Amy, Melody and Lilly are waiting outside. The whole thing is over now and we were just going to go out for dinner. Do you… feel up for it?"

"Dinner with the in-laws? Brilliant." The Doctor cried, throwing his arms melodramatically in the air, causing him to tip dangerously and almost fall forwards again.

In the end, Rory managed to drag the drunk-on-pain Doctor into the same pub as before, sitting him down beside opposite Amy, who was in between Lilly and Melody. Sitting himself down beside the Time Lord, he apologised.

"I think he just has a bit of concussion." He explained. Amy rolled her eyes.

"Well if you weren't so damn protective of Melody, we wouldn't have this problem." She said, giving him a pointed look.

"If I'm not going to stop her doing stupid things, who will?" Rory cried in exasperation.

"I will. I'm her mother." Amy retorted.

"But you let her do whatever she wants!" he argued.

"It's called giving her freedom. She can take care of herself." She said, clicking her fingers for the waitress.

"'She' is sitting right in front of you." Melody muttered in annoyance. The Doctor grinned at her across the table. His headache was beginning to subside slightly and his vision wasn't a polka-dotty as before. They all ordered their food, not letting the lingering awkwardness over take them.

Suddenly, Amy started bouncing up and down in her seat.

"This is just so exciting!" she cried, hugging her daughter, "Our little Melody is getting married." Melody smiled, squirming as her mother kissed her cheek over enthusiastically. Rory, however, simply muttered something inaudible, forcing a smile. The Doctor was fairly sure that it was either rude or seriously offensive. Or both. Yes, probably both. Amy playfully hit her husband's arm. Rory managed, eventually, to take a hint.

"Oh, erm, yes. Congratulations, Melody." He said to his daughter.

"Don't I get a 'congratulations'?" the Doctor asked. Rory frowned.

"No." he replied, "You didn't ask me first."

"Well, it was kind of a 'spur of the moment' thing." The Time Lord retorted, "And besides, I thought you were being sarcastic earlier when you said that that wasn't your blessing."

"I don't do sarcasm when it comes to my little girl." Rory said flatly.

"Clearly." The Doctor said.

Quickly the air became silent. Amy was still muttering to Melody, so the Doctor turned to Lilly, who was sat to the Scot's right, and struck up a conversation.

"So, Lilly, where are your parents then? They didn't come to support you?" he asked casually. The Ponds all turned to face him in disbelief.

"No they didn't. It would be pretty hard to attend a graduation from beyond the grave." Lilly commented calmly.

"Oh, Lilly. I'm so sorry." The Doctor said quickly, cursing internally; why was there nothing that controlled his brain-mouth connection? But she just shook her head.

"It's alright. They died when I was nine; to be honest, I don't remember much of them." She replied, smiling at his embarrassment, "Amy and Rory have effectively adopted me." The Doctor looked to his friends who were watching the blonde girl with parental affection. Man, he was proud of them: adopting a little girl, when they could have just left her to go into care.

"Yeah, her parents were the first people we met in the fiftieth century." Amy said, continuing when the Doctor frowned, "It's complicated. Not when we met… you know, but after that." The Time Lord nodded understandingly.

"Of course." He replied, "I guess I'm just going to have to wait and find out about that then." Wasn't that always the way?

"But enough of the sob stories and… misplaced chair legs, this is a happy day! Melody and Lilly: finally free to go into the world and do whatever the hell they want!" the Doctor cried, adding quickly when Rory glared at him, "Within reason, of course!"

"Cheers!" Amy added in agreement. Repeating, the rest of them raised their glasses, clinking them together loudly. The Doctor watched the smiles on the faces of the humans around him. All of them seemed so happy, even Rory, who was now sending suggestive looks across the table to his wife, looked mildly impressed. Despite how domestic this all was, it was strangely comforting to be in such an environment, especially for the Time Lord who, since his planet's destruction, knew very little of home life and the love of a family.

Once again, his wandering eyes met with Melody's. They smiled. He knew that it was daft to believe that their marriage and live thereafter would be straight forward and normal, but in the moment, it truly felt like this was exactly where he belonged. And it was. He knew it. And he always would. Until the day he died.


	24. Trying It On For Size

**Note to readers: I've been having very frequent bouts of writers block recently, so updating might be a bit slow for a while. Personally, I blame the Moff, who has spitefully caused a lack of Doctor Who in my life. Luckily for me, I have series 1 - 4 on DVD, and I'm hopefully getting series 5 soon. Thank you again for all the lovely reviews; it really means a lot to me, and it definately spurs me on with the writing. I'm sure fellow writers know how a lack of reviews can cause a feeling of dejection and hopelessness. So, thank you for preventing my untimely death-in-suspicious-circumstances-so-most-likely-suicide. Now, the wedding is nigh and babiesbabiesbabies are fast approaching (note the plural - what could it mean?). What would you like to happen? Surprisingly, despite my high level of stupidity - I mean, intelligence - I can't read minds. You might need to tell me. Perhaps.  
><strong>

The Doctor sat awkwardly. How else was he meant to sit when in some fancy dressing room in some fancy clothes shop, shopping for bloody fancy outfits? Glancing at the equally uncomfortable centurion sitting across from him, the Doctor did his best irritated "harrumph". His efforts were to no avail. Rory simply looked up, grimaced, and then began twiddling his thumbs. Suddenly, Amy jumped into the room.

"Ta-da!" she cried happily, making her way over to "her boys". The Time Lord groaned in unison with his friend as they both noticed the heavy stack of clothing that Amy carried in her arms.

"Please, Amy, why can't we just wear normal suits?" Rory asked in exasperation, indicating to the Doctor, who thankfully nodded along with his point.

"Because," Amy began, dumping the clothes onto the magazine-laden coffee table, "It's a wedding, and the groom and the father of the bride have to be the best dressed men there. You have to set an example for all the other guys who just rolled out of bed in the morning and threw on what they had in their wardrobes."

"Ah, that's the life." The Doctor muttered, receiving a chuckle of approval from Rory, who quickly changed his laugh to a cough when his wife gave him a disapproving glare.

"Listen, I don't care how much you hate it, neither of you are going to look like tramps on my baby's wedding day." Amy growled protectively. Both men stayed silent, knowing that, after a threat like that, no matter what they said, she would rip their heads off. Evidently deciding that she liked him the most at the current time, the Scot picked a suit from the top of the pile and handed it to Rory, ordering sternly, "Try it on. Now."

Sighing, the centurion half-heartedly took the clothes from her hands and stepped behind the white wooden divider. Only seconds later, he stepped back out again.

"Amy, there is no way that I am wearing that." He said bluntly, holding up possibly the most hideous suits of all times. The trousers were plain, but the blazer was beyond compare. The misfortunately paired colours of the tartan pattern hurt the Doctor's eyes as he tried not to look directly at it. If this was her husband's suit, then he really hated to think what Amy had picked out for him.

"Fine." She said after a good, long staring contest, "I guess I was being optimistic with that. Here, try this one." She handed him the next one in the pile. Rory studied it carefully and suspiciously before taking it behind the screen, shooting his wife a distrusting glance.

Amy sat down beside the Doctor on the sofa, gazing at him for a while.

"What?" he asked, checking his bow-tie to make sure that it wasn't skewwhiff.

"I hate you sometimes." She said plainly, not taking her eyes from him.

"Well, that's nice to know…" he muttered sarcastically.

"I hate that we get older and you never seem to age." She said, "It's just unfair." The Doctor laughed.

"No, Amy. Unfair is when you and your daughter are the only two of your kind left in the whole universe." He said, silencing her immediately. Feeling the air become awkward as Rory peered out from behind the screen, the Doctor continued slightly more flippantly, "And besides, I do age. But I just skip a lot of years out. I only visit you once in a while; if I kept coming back, you would never learn to live your lives on your own."

"Once in a while? You've never missed one of Melody's birthdays." Rory commented, edging out into the room.

"I haven't?" the Doctor asked, "Well, how nice of me."

"I remember for her eighth birthday you got her a t-shirt saying 'Trust me, I have Time Lord DNA'." Amy laughed, "We tried so hard to explain to her what the relevance was, but she still had no clue."

"It didn't stop her wearing it everywhere though." Rory added, now fully emerged, "And for her thirteen birthday, you took us all to see 'Romeo and Juliet' at the theatre. You then spent the entire play telling her why each and every scene was a good reason never to have a boyfriend. I have to say that I did agree with that."

"Only because you're so damn protective of her." Amy muttered affectionately.

"Did she… have many boyfriends?" the Doctor asked timidly. The Ponds laughed at his insecurity, causing him to ask, "She did?" Amy shook her head as happy tears fell down her cheeks. But it wasn't a head shake of denial, simply a random gesture. Clearly that wasn't something that he was going to find out soon.

"She was so bossy when she was young, wasn't she?" Rory said, sitting on the arm of the sofa, next to his wife. He turned to the Doctor, "When was the last time you saw Melody?"

"Well, about five or six months ago, but apart from that, when she was six and a half." He replied.

"Ah, the hit-every-part-of-the-male-anatomy-that-you-can-reach phase." Rory said in sarcastic sentimentality. Amy laughed.

"That was the best Christmas ever." She said happily. Her husband glared at her before standing up and giving her an unenthusiastic twirl.

"So, what do you think," he said, bowing, "Oh great one?" Amy sat up straighter, giving him her best pompous look and replying.

"Excellent." She said, turning to the Doctor, "Next." The Time Lord groaned.

"Come on, it's your turn." Rory said with a mocking grin, yanking the resilient man from his seat and chucking him behind the screen, along with the next suit on the pile.

"I still don't see why we have to do this." The Doctor argued, peering out at the Ponds, who were now sat on the sofa, "Couldn't I just wear the suit that I wore to your wedding; it's special to me and it would mean something."

"Nice try." Amy said flatly, waving him back behind the screen. Scowling, the Doctor changed into his chosen suit. He hated to admit it, but he rather liked it. He and Melody had decided on a TARDIS-blue theme, so pretty much everything was a shade of blue, or at least included one. The suit Amy had picked out for him was simple enough: a tail coat – like his favourite one – with a white shirt and a deep blue tie. It was nothing too extravagant, just the way he liked it.

Stepping rather shyly from behind the screen, the Doctor scuffed his shoes against the floor in childish retaliation and refused to look up at the Ponds.

"You look so handsome!" Amy squealed, standing up and rushing over to the uncomfortable Time Lord, straightening out his suit in a motherly fashion.

"Thanks…" Rory muttered almost inaudibly.

"Oh, but look at you!" she said, ignoring her husband's comment. The Doctor frowned.

"Look, just because I'm marrying your daughter doesn't mean that I'm now your son. I am nine hundred and-" he argued.

"Oh, shut up," Amy said slightly dreamily, cutting him off, "You're ruining it." The Doctor sighed and looked to Rory, who only shrugged in mild concern; he was clearly more used to his wife's behaviour. But the Time Lord's next comment got him to pay attention.

"So, we can stop shopping now? He asked hesitantly. The Scot paused, looking to and from the hopeful men, seeming as if she were considering it. Finally, she sighed.

"I suppose so. But," She said warily as they both grinned far too widely for their own good, "You have to start writing the menu." Amy smiled contently as their faces fell. With mumbles of reluctant agreement, the two men took it in turns to change out of their suits, hand them to Amy, and catch the bus back to sector 8.3. The Doctor was surprised to find that it was the same sector that River and Merry lived in, in the future. Except now they lived in one of the bigger houses; apparently nurses and doctors were very rare and sought after in the fiftieth century. He had been visiting regularly, but it had never hit him that it was the exact same neighbourhood. Clearly, he was very unobservant.

They found Melody very quickly. She was sitting in the park, under one of the leafy trees in the shade. The August sun was burning brightly in the glassy sky and very few people were about, and the ones that were carried huge parasols about with them, protecting their skin from the sun.

"Why are you out here?" Rory asked as they approached her, "You'll get heat stroke." She smiled at his concern, inviting them to sit beside her.

"I like the fresh air. It helps me think." She explained as they sat on the rug she had out. Rory sat opposite his daughter, watching closely as the Time Lord sat down carefully beside his fiancée. They stayed in silence for a few minutes before the centurion turned to the Doctor.

"When does Melody become River?" he asked quietly. Both Melody and the Doctor looked up, glancing at each other. The Time Lord shifted uneasily.

"When she's ready." He replied simply.

"Oh…" Rory said unsurely, looking to his daughter, "When do you think you'll change your name?"

"I… I don't know." Melody murmured, "Not yet, I know that much."

"Doctor, do you think that there might have been – sorry, will be – an important reason, perhaps?" the centurion asked in fatherly worry.

"Maybe." The Doctor replied, picking at the grass.

"Couldn't you go back, or forward, and ask her?" Rory questioned, leaning forwards. The Doctor half-smiled and nodded.

"You know what she'd say though, don't you?" he said. They both grinned and said in unison, "Spoilers."

Melody frowned.

"Spoilers?" she asked. Pausing, she continued thoughtfully, "It's rather catchy. Spoilers…" The two men rolled their eyes at each other and smiled knowingly.

"Honestly. That catch phrase was all your own fault. You had no right to complain about it." Rory teased. The Doctor laughed, throwing the blades of grass that he had in his hand at his almost-father-in-law. Melody sighed, dragging herself back to reality.

"Stop messing around." She scolded them, before turning to the Doctor and continuing once she had his attention, "We need to send invitations. The wedding's in September, so we want to make sure that people can come."

"Ah, wedding invitations. They're a lot harder to send out when your friends live in different times." He replied sarcastically, "We'll have to deliver them ourselves; the post won't do it."

"We'd better get going then." She said, standing up in determination. The Doctor sighed, pulling Rory up with him.

"Fine." He said.

"I'm coming with you." The centurion said sternly, "No funny business."

"Funny business?" the Doctor asked in mock hurt, "Since when has there ever been any funny business with me?"


	25. Silence Isn't Lying

**Note to readers: Yeah, I know: Rose was trapped in a parallel world blah, blah, blah. But if the universe was reset, maybe she's in the real world now? That's what I want to believe and so I will. The same goes for Donna. I loved her character and I'm semi bringing her back. In this fiction. And as for Jenny, well, you may have to check "A Time Lord's Path" for that. In a while though; I haven't quite got to that bit yet. Anyway, the time for the wedding is almost upon us and you'll get to see a lot of it next chapter. "Finally", I hear you cry. I know, I'm sorry it's been so long. But hopefully it will be worth it. And then we'll be onto time babies (plural? Ooh-err). So hang on; there's a load of rubbish in this chapter. Hope you enjoy anyways!**

In retrospect, it really only took an hour to deliver the invitations to the Doctor's friends. Making sure that he landed at the right point in time – the TARDIS seemed to appreciate the importance of the correct landings – the Time Lord spoke to Donna, Martha, Mickey, Sarah-Jane, Luke and his friends, Jack, Rose, Jackie, Pete, and even the duplicate Doctor. He promised to pick them all up in two weeks, so that they would have time to prepare. With that done, he, Rory and Melody returned to the Pond residence, just in time for dinner.

"Can't we just skip to next month?" Melody pleaded as she helped her mother wash the dishes, "I don't think that I can wait any longer!"

"No." the Doctor replied sternly, peering over his book, "The build-up to the big day is the whole point. I can't believe that I'm actually saying this but, you're going to have to live it; we're not skipping a single day." Rory, who was on drying and stacking duty, just gaped at him open mouthed.

"You can't be serious?" Melody cried, chucking the plate she was washing back into the sink, causing major spillage and a tidal wave splash.

"I'm deadly serious." The Doctor said flatly, returning to his book, "Now, hush; I'm trying to read." Melody glared at him in childish hatred, turning back to her work with a huff.

Deciding that he wanted some time alone, the Doctor excused himself and went out into the back garden, and into the TARDIS. The Ponds had kindly provided him with a room, but he preferred not to be in there for too long. It wasn't because he disliked it, it was just because the reality of what he was doing came crashing down on him every time he was in there alone. Closing the doors behind him, the Doctor set his battered copy of the seventh Harry Potter book on the sofa and began fiddling with the console before him. He aimlessly wandered around in circles, stopping when he became dizzy. He took hold of the monitor and simply looked at it. He wanted something to do. But he had no idea what.

As if answering his prayers, there was a knock at the door. It swung open gently and Rory stepped in.

"Err, Doctor?" he asked timidly, "Could I talk to you?"

"Oh, of course." The Doctor replied in mock surprise. Rory closed the door behind him and made his way up the steps, nervously swinging his arms about his sides as he stopped on the opposite side of the column from his friend. The Time Lord attempted to encourage him, "Can I help you with something?" Resting his arms on the control panel, the centurion looked up and into the Doctor's eyes, seemingly studying them for something.

"Are you alright, Doctor?" he asked finally, straightening up and nonchalantly fingering a couple of buttons in front of him, "It's just, this isn't like you."

"What's not like me?" the Doctor asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, all of this." Rory said, waving his arms about in a wide gesture, "Getting married, taking it all day by day. You even let Amy choose a suit for you! If that's not like you, I don't know what is."

The Doctor hung his head.

"I know." He replied weakly, "But this is what Melody wants."

"Are you sure about that?" Rory asked, a mocking tone to his voice, "Because from what I saw earlier, she seemed pretty keen to skip a month." For a moment, the Time Lord looked up, in a vain form of hope. That was true; she was a lot like him in that way of impatience. Furiously, the Doctor shook his head.

"No, that's not the point!" He cried helplessly, "Marriage is a very human right of passage. It's something to look forward to. The nerves, the waiting, the build-up: that's all part of it. If you miss out on one of those, you miss out on the real feeling! And Melody shouldn't miss out on anything."

"Maybe she wants to miss out." Rory commented.

"No. I want her to have a normal human life for as long as possible!" the Doctor said angrily.

"But she's never had a normal human life!" Rory argued, silencing the emotional Time Lord, "The life of a time traveller is all that she knows." The Doctor glared at his friend.

"Be that as it may, this is one experience that she won't miss out on. Not if I can help it." He retorted bluntly, running a hand through his messy hair as he turned his back on Rory and sat against the control panel.

There was a shuffling from behind him as the centurion clearly considered leaving and, soon after, there was the sound of approaching footsteps. The Doctor had wanted someone to talk to, but now he wished that he had flown off and landed himself somewhere in the far reaches of the time vortex. He felt a sudden movement as Rory leant against the controls beside the Time Lord.

"What are you going to do after the wedding?" Rory asked quietly.

"Go on our honeymoon, I suppose." The Doctor replied, smiling as he added, "I was thinking, Morbel. It had the biggest log-flume in the galaxy." But his last comment seemed to go unnoticed by his friend, who simply gave him a queer look, and then spoke again.

"Are you going to take her away from us?" he asked dejectedly. The Doctor was completely shocked as he looked to the centurion. The young man's eyes were filled with tears and he looked utterly heartbroken. The Time Lord swallowed loudly as his hearts fell to the pit of his stomach.

"No." he said, his voice catching on his reply.

"Don't lie, Doctor." Rory whispered tearfully, "You don't have any intention of bringing her back."

"We'll visit. Lots." The Doctor argued. Rory shook his head and laughed.

"No you won't. You'll forget, or you'll be busy, or you'll land badly." He said, looking into the Time Lord's eyes, "Just promise me that you'll keep her safe. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her."

"Of course I will. I'll do everything in my power to keep her safe, and more." The Doctor said, patting his friend on the arm.

"Thank you, Doctor." The centurion said, rubbing his eyes furiously and standing back up. With one last half-smile, he made his way down the steps. As he opened the door, Rory paused and turned to look to the Doctor, a serious expression falling across his face, "If I find that she's died under your care, I'll never forgive you." He said sternly. The Doctor could do nothing but blink. Taking it as a good sign, the centurion left the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him.

As soon as he heard the catch clink, the Time Lord sunk to his knees. His body shuddered violently under the force of his inconsolable sobs, wracking his whole form as he retched hysterically. That was the last straw. As if he didn't feel guilty enough about taking Melody from her family, now all he could think of was the day that she had died, or would die. His remorse and sorrow was consuming him. Like a forest fire in his mind, his guilt tore through him, ruining every happy moment, every new experience and burned them to cinders.

And it was all worsened by the fact that he still had to call her Melody. He felt like he was sentencing two people to death at the one time. At least when he called her River, he felt like he had come to terms more with the facts. But when he called her Melody… It just felt wrong. The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if he were marrying a child. He felt like he were marrying the six year old girl that he knew from almost twenty years ago: the little girl who still called her parents "Mummy" and "Daddy", and needed help using cutlery at the dinner table. He felt like a cradle snatcher.

But the utmost worst thing about the whole situation was that he knew he couldn't stop it. Even though he knew what was going to happen, he couldn't change a thing. It would only create a paradox, and a nasty one at that. What was the use in being a Time Lord if he could do nothing to save the woman that he loved?

Because he did love her. And he knew that he always would. But she still wasn't quite done yet. She was still incomplete. She was almost there, he knew it, but she had a little way to go until she was River. The Doctor sat back, leaning against the TARDIS, letting the control panel cool the fever on his brow. His head spun from all the thinking that he had been doing and his stomach churned as he tried to focus his eyes. But the effort only made him feel sick again. He closed his eyes, letting a few weary tears slip from beneath his eyelids. He took loud, deep, rattling breaths as he tried to stop himself from flying into a fully-blown panic attack and pulled his knees up to his chest.

He stayed there for a number of hours, simply breathing in and out, trying not to think too much. Finally, he snuck back into the house, making sure not to wake anyone as he almost quite literally fell into bed. He and Rory didn't speak of their conversation, and the Doctor wondered if his friend had mentioned it to Amy. As she never made a gesture that would suggest that she had heard of the discussion, he was led to assume that she knew nothing of it. It was quite a relief.

The month leading up to the wedding actually went by quicker than both the Doctor and Melody had first expected. The Time Lord was able to enjoy/tolerate the little human experiences that he had heard of, but never tried out for himself. Things like going to Church – he was surprised to discover that Amy was rather traditional in her views of her religious heritage, and had been christened and raised as a member of the Church of Scotland – which he found very interesting, the ups and downs of public transport, and even a nine to five job, which he quickly lost when he insisted on advising people at the till on which products don't actually work, and which they should buy instead.

But by the time the wedding was a few days away, the Doctor spent most of his time trying to calm Melody down as she worried about this, that and the other. She barely sat still, always anxious for something to do to distract her from her concerns. They had both agreed on not conforming to the whole bachelor/bachelorette party tradition; they both viewed it as a silly custom. Instead, on the 11th of September, the night before the wedding, Amy, Rory, Melody and the Doctor went out for dinner with Melody's grandparents.

It was actually quite an enjoyable evening, considering the amount of family secrets and trades the Doctor was let in on. He had met Augustus and Tabetha, Amy's parents, at her and Rory's wedding, but he had had very little time to speak with Rory's parents, Violet and Samuel, from whom their son had evidently inherited his quietness. It turned out, the reason Rory wanted to be a doctor so desperately, was because his father was a successful and sought after GP. Ironically, Violet was a dedicated hippie, well-practiced in the arts of herbal healing, recreational drugs and, needless to say, she had pretty much no shame. How did he know that? Well, she quickly and brashly set about asking whether the Doctor and Melody were using contraception, and whether any special forms were needed due to the Doctor's species. Rory spent the rest of the evening in a state of mortified shock.

But other than that, the evening went by without a hitch. The Doctor got on well with all of his grandparents-in-law – especially Violet, who was completely smitten by his stories of other worlds and creatures – and managed not to get on anyone's nerves at all. In fact, the whole time he had been on Domicilia, he hadn't met with a hindrance. Until the wedding day…


	26. My Name

**Note to readers: It's the moment that you've all been waiting for! Ish. Maybe, depends on what you've been waiting for really. So, if you've been waiting for your GCSE results (like me) then, no: this is not what you've been waiting for. But this is much better than GCSE's. I hope. It's the wedding! And we're rapidly approaching the oh-Doctor-why-did-you-do-that moment. It'll be priceless. If only there were little cameras in your computers so that I could see your reactions. Who knows; maybe there are... Now that I've sufficiently scared you, enjoy!**

The Doctor rocked back and forth on his heels. He had fifteen minutes until he had to go out there. Well, outside of the TARDIS and then walk to where the service was to take place. He was, for want of better phraseology, quite literally wetting himself. The nerves were becoming unbearable and, in a way, he just wanted the whole thing over and done with so that he could spend more time with River – or Melody. He was anxiously awaiting the day that the young Pond would change her name, and he had a feeling that it was going to be in the evening, or on the honeymoon. But then again, his 'feelings' had often led him astray before, and this time he had decided not to pin his hopes on that little tickling of the hairs on the back of his neck. It was better to be safe than sorry.

For the umpteenth time, the Doctor straightened his collar, making sure that it wasn't folded in an awkward way. Once he had done that, he began pacing madly past the top of the steps, going to sit down in the chair and then deciding that, with jelly-like legs, he probably wouldn't be able to get back up again, so he continued pacing. Suddenly, then was a creak and the door opened. The Time Lord stopped moving and looked expectantly at the empty frame as a tall, dark and handsome man entered the TARDIS.

"So, Doctor, how are you feeling?" Jack asked happily, closing the door behind him and making his way slowly to the bottom of the steps.

"Not good; not good at all." The Doctor muttered in response, resuming his frantic pacing.

"Well, someone's nervous!" Jack teased, grinning widely at the Time Lord's face.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed." The Doctor said in dryly, stopping simply to give his friend an evil glare. The young man laughed, leaning against the banisters and watching the Time Lord bounce up and down, rocking on his feet and flinging his arms about, as if he couldn't quite decide where he needed them most. After a while Jack spoke.

"Do you want to start walking?" he asked casually. The Doctor froze.

"Start walking?" he repeated, "But then that would mean that I would get there and have get to married and have to dance at the reception and… and…"

"And have lots of rough sex tonight?" Jack suggested, his impossibly wide grin spreading further until it almost reached his ears. The Doctor flushed uncharacteristically red and looked around nervously as if he expected Rory to be charging at him, sword in hand.

"Jack! No!" he squeaked, his arms flapping about again. Jack laughed leaning up the stairs and clapping his friend on the shoulder heartily and speaking.

"Come on, let's go." He said. The Doctor's hearts stopped as the young man opened the door for him and indicated that he step outside.

With as much dignity as he could muster, the Time Lord did so, letting Jack close the door behind him. He found himself where he knew he'd be; the same street corner that he had landed on the first time that he had gone to Domicilia. Looking to Jack, who nodded in affirmation, the Doctor set off across the road and past the park. Once they had reached the end of the fenced off field, they turned left, walking down the path beside it. Soon the ground began to slope upwards, heading for the hill in front of them. They walked in absolute silence as they travelled through the shade of the trees, the only sound being the gentle crunching of the path beneath their feet.

The further up the hill that they went, the more wooded the area became. Birch trees, Oak trees and Yew trees surrounded them, causing the early evening warmth to be cancelled out. Within a few more minutes, the two men had reached the top of the hill. The Doctor almost fell all the way back down again. The sight before him was one of the most beautifully human things that he'd ever seen in his life.

The hill had levelled out on the top, with space enough to fit chairs for about a hundred to a hundred and fifty people and room to spare. The chairs were facing away from the Doctor, looking out to the sky. The way that the hill was formed meant that the far edge couldn't be seen, and it appeared to be the edge of a cliff, the edge of the world, even. It seemed that it flew off, clashing magnificently with the sky. There were no trees at the top; all of the woodland was on the hillside, behind the Time Lord, as he walked down the aisle.

The people in the seats turned to face him as moved. He smiled nervously at his friends, returning the little wave of Donna, who had brought Wilf with her; the old man was looking exceedingly excited by the fact that he was at a fiftieth century wedding. Rose and her Doctor grinned happily at him, pointing him out to their six-year-old twins, Charlie and Gwyneth, who were trying desperately to escape the protectively grip of their parents.

He reached the front of the chairs, nodding to Amy who was sat in the first row, tissues ready. The Doctor, deciding that he didn't want to have to handle to stares of friends, turned to look at the open sky. He could see the forest below; it surrounded the entire hill, coating the landscape in a soft reddy-brown blanket. The sunlight seemed to set the leaves on fire, just like on Gallifrey. He could see the main city in the distance. Strangely it didn't ruin the view, in fact, it actually complemented it. The pinky-orangy glow was warm and pleasant, making him feel a little sleepy. But he didn't need to worry about feeling tired. His nerves were beginning to make him itch; his one and only aim was to get this done. He had been waiting for long enough. He just hoped he wouldn't say the wrong name, like in that American TV show: "Buddies"? "Chums"? No, no: "Friends". He had never really understood that episode; it was a little too human for him. A sudden gasp drew the Doctor's attention away from his own thoughts. Jack nudged him in the side and the Time Lord turned around.

There she was. And she was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen. She clung to Rory's arm like her life depended on it, the centurion glaring around at no one in particular, just daring someone to try and take his daughter from him. But the Doctor didn't care. She blushed as he stared shamelessly at his wife-to-be.

Her dress was flawless: light and floating, touching the ground gently as she walked. The pink and orange light made the white of the fabric glow like the sunset itself. The design was simple, yet beautiful. The skirt fell like a waterfall from her waist, tracing every curve of her body as it rustled in the gentle breeze. The bodice was plain and fitting, joining with the lace Gallifreyan patterns of the sleeves. Her hair was as wonderful as ever, the beautiful ringlets dusting her shoulders as she walked gracefully towards him; they glinted red, brown and blonde in the light of the setting sun and they looked like the very essence of autumn. In her semi-pinned up locks, she wore TARDIS blue hydrangeas to match her modest bouquet.

Behind her walked the two bridesmaids: Jenny and Lilly. They both wore simple, royal blue dresses. Nothing special, so as not to detract from the bride. Lilly's maniacal hair had been neatly straightened, and it reached just above her shoulders. They both had matching blue bands in their blonde hair, and they carried significantly smaller bouquets in their hands. It seemed like an eternity before the four of them reached the front. The Doctor held his hand out for Melody and, rather grudgingly, Rory put his daughter's hand into the Time Lord's. As he went to sit next to his wife, the centurion paused to whisper in his ear.

"I just thought that you ought to know, I have my sword in my pocket." He said quietly.

"But-" the Doctor began, looking down in confusion; there was no sword in sight.

"These are your trousers, and your pockets." Rory explained, continuing when the Time Lord frowned, "They're bigger on the inside." The Doctor swallowed loudly.

"Understood." He said. Rory nodded and sat down in his seat with a smug smile playing across his face.

The Doctor turned around to face Melody, who had been watching the exchange of murmured words with general confusion and interest. He smiled convincingly.

"You look beautiful." He said shyly, surprising himself with a blush. She squeezed his hand as she turned to the front.

"I know." She replied, pursing her lips as she tried to suppress her smile. The Time Lord laughed, and they looked into each other's eyes smiling.

"Get a room." Jack muttered from the Doctor's right. Coughing purposefully, and ignoring the self-righteous ex-con man, the Time Lord turned to face the front. The vicar came to stand in front of the couple, smiling warmly at them and then the congregation.

The service itself was fairly regular: there were prayers and hymns – the Doctor didn't feel the need to sing along; instead, he listened, occasionally humming along with a catchy tune. But the vows came too early for the surprisingly nervous Time Lord. Traditionally, the man would speak first, but they had decided that she should say her part before him. They had a mutual understanding that the Doctor often liked to ramble, and it would be more fitting that he should be given the room to do that if he wished, whereas Melody was a woman of few words. However, the budding archaeologist liked to believe it was because she wore the trousers in their relationship. And although he denied it, the Doctor knew that she was right.

Taking a deep breath Melody spoke.

"Doctor, you knew me from day one. I can't even remember that far back, but I know that you were there. You know things about me that even I don't know. And I'll admit it, it can be rather annoying at times, but it only makes me trust you more." She said, smiling as tears fell silently down her cheeks, "I've been planning this day in my head ever since I understood what a wedding was, and what it's meant to symbolised. But now I realise that it doesn't represent love or unity, like most people think; it represents total and utter trust. It's proving to the other person that you would lay your life down for them without a second's thought. And I would, my love. I would die a thousand times over just to see your face once more. I love you."

The Doctor was awestruck. It was probably a little cruel, but he'd never thought of Melody's feelings for him going that deep so early on. But then again, they were getting married. Fighting back tears, the Time Lord began his speech.

"Melody Pond: beautiful, impossible woman. When I first met you, you said a lot of things that didn't make sense at all. And quite a lot of that still doesn't. But it's beginning to. And I know that one day it will make sense for you too. But for now, we're going to have to trust each other as if our lives depend upon it, and they probably will do quite a lot, knowing our luck." He grinned at her as the congregation laughed along with them, "But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that we made it; we're finally here. I love you, Melody, and nothing can change that: not time or space or any aliens we might have to face in our long and dangerous lives together. And to prove to you that I mean every word that I say, I'm going to bestow on you the greatest honour: I'm going to tell you my name."

Several members of the congregation gasped in shock at this and, out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor could see pretty much everyone turning to face their neighbours with an expression of complete astonishment on their faces. He smiled slightly as Melody simply gaped at him. Once the initial reaction had died down, the Time Lord leaned in. As all of his nerves and fears hit a boiling point, he spoke the words that he had kept a secret, in the knowledge that he had, after so long, found someone to share them with.


	27. Desert Lands

**Note to readers: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry**, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry** *takes deep breath*** sorry******, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry****, sorry! I've been doing some peer-education training course this week and I have literally returned home after seven hours of learning to collapse onto my bed or, indeed, my floor. The good news is, I can now give you advice concerning drugs, alcohol and which lubes not to use on condoms. The bad news is, this is probably a terrible chapter. But I've nearly reached the naughty thing that the Doctor does, and this is where it begins. Also, a small bit of trivia: the song playing for Rory and Melody's dance is "I Loved Her First" by Heartland, which is a beautiful song and I want it played at my future wedding. If there will ever be such an event... Anyway, I'm now going to cry about my lack of boyfriend(s), whilst you read this new chapter. Hope you like it! And remember, feedback makes the world go around. **

It wasn't long before the ceremony was over. Amy, of course, cried rather a lot. So did most of the congregation, including Rory, although he did look more irritated than upset. They had some photos taken before they all trouped back down the hill and into the hall that had been hired for the reception. Blue was pretty much everywhere and in everything. And despite feeling a little out of place amongst his human friends, the Doctor had never felt more at home. Or at least, not for a long time.

And soon enough, it was time for dancing. The Doctor took the hand of his bride and led her to the centre of the floor.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked teasingly. She laughed, sounding just like River.

"Are you?" she corrected mischievously, "I'm like a whirlwind on the dance floor; you might want to find something to hang onto." He laughed and pulled her in, placing one hand on her hip and using the other to hold her hand. Gently, they swayed in time to the music.

"What song is this?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"Desert Lands, by Trading Yesterday." Melody answered, "I thought the message was fitting." The Time Lord smiled.

"Yeah, I love it." He said, pulling her closer and resting his head alongside hers.

They stayed silent for several minutes before Melody spoke again.

"Your vows…" she started unsurely.

"Yes?" he replied, when she made no signs of continuing her sentence. Taking a deep breath, she spoke again.

"They were beautiful." She whispered in his ear. He smiled.

"Well, I have a confession to make: they were improvised. I didn't bother writing them in advance." The Doctor said. Melody pulled away from him a little to look him in the eyes.

"I don't know whether I should be flattered, or angry." She said, frowning slightly at him.

"I'll make it up to you. Tonight. I promise." The Time Lord replied with a grin.

"Tonight?" she asked as he pressed his cheek to hers affectionately.

"It's our wedding night." He whispered. It took her a few moments before she realised what she meant. He heard her take a sharp intake of breath and he felt her cheeks burn slightly on his.

Grinning, the Doctor kissed her on the nose. Suddenly, there was a loud purposeful cough from behind him and he turned to come face to face with Rory, who was looking a little less than pleased.

"Can I dance with my daughter now?" he asked. Deciding that it didn't really sound like a question, the Time Lord nodded and let go of Melody, stepping aside to let Rory take his daughter's hands. Dodging in and out of the dancing couples that he hadn't noticed before, the Doctor made his way to the side of the dance floor. He watched the centurion rock his little girl back and forth, cradling her like he would a child.

He stood watching the pair as the next song began to play. The beautiful sounds of the violin echoed around the room and the Doctor began to hum along to whatever the song was. He watched his friends around him as she swayed a little to the beat. They all looked so happy and well. He didn't lie when he said that he never left anyone behind. He always remembered them and they were always very dear to him. The only reason he never went back was because it hurt. It hurt to see that they had moved on with their lives, they had grown up and settled down. It wasn't that he wanted a normal life, because he was quite content with seeing the wonders of the universe, but he missed the security of having a home, or at least a home planet. After what happened in Paris, a part of that was restored for him, but he wanted Gallifrey back. The Doctor sighed. One day he was just going to have to accept that that was never going to happen for him. Gallifrey was gone.

Before long the song was finished and Melody and her father broke apart, smiling widely with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, two figures jumped in front of him. Shaking his head, the Time Lord recognised them.

"Rani! Clyde!" he cried hugging them both, "How are you?"

"We're as good as ever." Clyde replied.

"We just wanted to say congratulations." Rani added when the air became a little still and awkward.

"Well, thank you." The Doctor said with a smile, clapping the young girl gently on her shoulder, "Still saving the world from that attic then, I hope?"

"Yep, business is better than ever." Clyde joked, "These aliens just can't get enough of us."

"I bet they can't." the Doctor replied, swelling a little with pride, "One day you won't need me. You'll have a whole generation of alien fighters. Then you can raise your children to carry on your good work." Clyde and Rani looked to one another and blushed, turning away quickly. Tactfully, the Doctor decided that he wanted a drink, leaving the uncomfortable teenagers to sort themselves out.

The Time Lord surveyed the drinks table before him. Most of the bottles contained alcoholic beverages: win, beer, champagne. The Doctor had never really been very fond of such drinks, although he did have a soft spot for brandy. And occasionally whiskey.

"Doctor?" came Melody's voice from behind him. He turned to face her. She was pink in the cheeks from the dancing, but a healthy pink. She smiled as she indicated to the table, "Are you getting a drink?"

"I don't know." He replied, "I'm not a big fan of alcohol. Unless…" He trailed off, an idea sparking in his wonderful mind.

"Unless what?" she asked apprehensively. The Doctor pulled a battered flask from the inside of his pocket. Melody frowned, "What's that?"

"A wedding gift from a certain Fuath." He replied with a grin.

"A wedding gift from a what?" she asked. His smile disappeared.

"Whoops. That hasn't happened for you yet." He muttered, dismissing her confusion with a toss of his hand, "Never mind. This is concentrated space-whiskey; you're meant to dilute it. It's only concentrated so that a smaller flask will last you longer."

"But Doctor, that's…" she mumbled.

"Pure alcohol. Or virtually, yes." He said, unscrewing the cap and grabbing a children's juice glass from the table and pouring in a few centimetres of the liquid. He put the flask back into his pocket and ran his fingers along the bottles. He found some red wine and tipped a bit of it into his glass.

His wife watched him in confusion.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" she asked in concern. He grinned at her.

"Having fun." He replied.

"Sweetie, this isn't a potions lesson." She said, "Stop messing around and, for once, act civilised."

"But that's not fun." He argued, grabbing the Guinness and pouring some of that into his drink, "And besides, there's no harm in this." Melody sighed as he reached for the cider.

"If this ends badly I'll never let you forget it." She said. The Doctor, ignoring her worries as he became increasingly excited, held the glass up to his eye level and shook it a bit. The concoction inside fizzed and then turned a vibrant purple.

"Remarkable." He muttered, "The chemical preservatives in the whiskey must have reacted with the other forms of alcohol."

"Hm…" she muttered. Turning to her, the Doctor thrust the glass in her face.

"Look, Melody!" he said with excitement, "Look how fascinating this is!"

"Very nice." She replied flatly, not in the least bit interested. The Time Lord began sniffing the bright liquid. She rolled her eyes, asking in disbelief, "You're not actually going to drink that, are you?"

"Of course I am. Why else would I make it?" he retorted, adding with childish defiance, "Live long and prosper."

And with that, he opened his mouth and tipped a swig of his creation straight down his throat. The Time Lord coughed violently as the strength of the drink directly hit the sensitive parts of his oesophagus. He choked for a good few minutes before straightening up. He hadn't gained as much attention as he had suspected; the loud music had drowned him out. His eyes watered as he looked to Melody, who was watching him expectantly. Finally, he spoke.

"Want some?"


	28. As Drunk As A Lord

**Note to readers: As you wished, I have written a drunken Doctor. Rather amusing, if I do say so myself. And Rory the Roman makes a brief reappearance. Thank you so much for favouriting/alerting/reviewing this fiction; I know I say this a lot, but it really does mean a lot to me, seeing as I've never received this amount of support for anything that I've ever done. And I've done some pretty embarrassing things, like performing at school concerts and various musical performances. Cringe. But anywho, I hope you enjoy this and please don't hesitate to make suggestions of any sort! Cheerio! **

The Doctor quickly became rather infatuated with mixing different alcohols and seeing what effect they had on each other. Melody watched him as he tried each and every new creation. The obsessiveness probably had something to do with the fact that he was becoming increasingly drunk. And as much as her senses were screaming at her to stop him, she kind of wanted to see what would happen; she'd never seen him drunk before. And it was rather amusing. Luckily, her parents were in a corner somewhere, talking to Rose and the other Doctor.

At first, the intoxicated Time Lord went through a phase of hugging everyone within his grasp, telling each and every one of them how much he loved them.

"You know," he slurred, leaning against a rather entertained looking Jack, "I think, I think I'm drunk enough to be gay… Have I ever told you how pretty you are?" Trailing off, the Doctor looked groggily into his best man's eyes, moving closer and closer to Jack's face. Well aware that Jack probably wouldn't stop him, Melody took it upon herself to pull her husband away, prying his arms from Jack's body.

"Sorry…" she muttered, attempting to support the Doctor.

"No problem." Jack grinned, walking away as he shouted over his shoulder, "But I'd take him up on that offer any time."

Scowling after him, Melody pulled the Doctor to the side. She sat him in a chair against the wall.

"I think, perhaps, you'd better just sit out for a while." She said patronisingly, bending down to look him in the eyes.

"But, but I need to tell them I love them." He said childishly, attempting to stand up, but simply falling back down into the chair again.

"Sweetie, they know you love them." She replied, holding him down. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"They do?" he asked in amazement. She couldn't help but smile at this.

"Of course they do. And they love you too." She answered. Suddenly, the Doctor burst into tears.

"That's really nice of them." He sobbed, tears falling rapidly from his cheeks as he wept shamelessly. Melody was completely dumbstruck. She didn't quite understand what had happened. But before she had time to think it over, he leaned in towards her, grabbing her arms, "And you know the best part, Melody?" Melody shook her head, waiting for him to continue. But he never did. Instead, he just stood up and stumbled off. Perhaps letting him drink hadn't been such a good idea after all.

It only took her few minutes to find him wandering around the hall, giving random people hugs as he went by. Apologising to a rather frightened looking old lady, who Melody didn't even recognise, she pulled the Doctor to the side. The effects of the alcohol seemed to be wearing off and his speech was no longer as slurred as it was before.

"Doctor, I want you to stay here now." She ordered sternly, "Under no circumstances hug anyone else."

"OK…" he mumbled, suddenly grabbing her and pulling her closer, "But only if you stay with me."

"Alright, I'll stay." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck. He simply gazed at her, watching her every move with amazement.

"You're beautiful." He said finally. She was about to reply when, without warning, he kissed her passionately. At first, she didn't fight him, letting her husband grip her tightly. But after a few seconds he roughly pushed her against the nearby wall, now trailing his tongue along her neck and letting a long stream of inappropriate moans out.

"D-Doctor, please. Don't." she stuttered, flushing as her husband's actions began to attract a lot of attention. He just muttered some incomprehensible sentence and continued kissing her forcefully.

Melody began panicking. What exactly was she meant to do? If she pushed him away it would just be embarrassing, but if she let him… continue it would be more than that. She decided to compromise and just slow him down slightly, pressing her hands to his side in such a way that he found it difficult to breath, thus eliminating the unfortunate noises. But it wasn't long before the situation began to escalate again.

"I want you now." He growled, his eyes still hazy from the effects of the alcohol. Melody's heart was thumping against her rib cage so hard that she momentarily thought it would leap out of her chest. But she had a bigger problem at hand.

"No." she said firmly, attempting to sound more confident than she really was. The Doctor didn't seem to understand. Instead, ran his hand up from her hip, tracing her curves and mumbling what Melody could only assume was a compliment of sorts. He stroked her side and fingered the material of her dress lovingly, so distracted that he ceased the kissing all together.

Melody watched him, completely dumbstruck, her mouth involuntarily falling open. O…K? So, at least he wasn't molesting her anymore. What he was doing now was kind of… endearing. Or was it just creepy? The young Pond had no idea. Due to her unfailing devotion to the Time Lord, she hadn't done anything more than kiss another man. Well, she'd teased them enough, but that had been it. She had spent every second of her adolescence, not experimenting, but waiting. Just like her father had waited for her mother, and her mother had waited for the Doctor. Clearly, it was genetic.

Melody's inner monologue was abruptly cut off as she noticed that the Doctor's hand, which had been slowly creeping up her side, was now clasped around her left breast. Interesting. The Time Lord groaned as he pressed himself further into his wife.

"Put your hand down my trousers." He ordered, luckily in her ear so that no one else heard. Melody did nothing, rather concerned that it seemed her father had noticed. Rory looked nothing less than severely disturbed at the situation before him. Understandable really; how many father's would be pleased to see their little girl pressed to the wall by some drunk man, claiming to be well over nine hundred years old? The centurion promptly left his conversation with Amy, Rose and the other Doctor and began marching over to them.

Melody gasped. Not because her father was approaching them, although that was gasp-provoking, but because the Doctor had suddenly leant into her, pressing his hips to her. And more importantly, pressing something else of his against her hips. As erotic as it was probably intended to be, Melody couldn't help but shove herself away from him, willing herself to sink further into the wall and preferably cease to exist.

"Doctor." Came Rory's stern address. But the Time Lord ignored him, kissing his wife with an almost animalistic passion. With admirable foolishness, the Doctor raised his other hand, pressing it firmly to Melody's chest.

And that was all the encouragement Rory needed. Without a second thought, the experienced centurion pulled the sword from his pocket, receiving several gasps of shock from the audience that had now formed around them. Melody heard her mother cry out as Rory swung his sword expertly at the Time Lord, neatly slicing at his wrists. The Doctor jerked backwards, letting go of Melody as he cried out in pain.

Gritting his teeth, the centurion cast his weapon aside and grabbed the Doctor's lapel with his left hand, pulling the Time Lord to face him. With that task complete, Rory used his right hand – now balled into a fist – to punch his friend violently in the face. The crowd gasped again, Jack's unmistakable laugh lying as a subtle undertone. Just as Rory drew his blood-splattered hand back to repeat the action, Melody decided that it was time to act.

"Daddy, stop it." She cried as she launched herself at him, cringing as she realise too late how childish her protest sounded. With his daughter hanging from his arm, the centurion really wasn't in any position to lash out again. With his livid expression fading gradually from his face, Rory nodded, almost convincingly. Melody slackened her grip slowly, letting go completely when her father shrugged her off. A tense moment passed. He studied to Doctor in disdain, watching as the drunken Time Lord's head flopped about from side to side, blood dripping from his mouth.

Suddenly, Rory pulled the Doctor into him. At first, Melody naively believed it to be an apologetic sorry-for-punching-you-and-making-an-idiot-out-of-you-on-your-wedding-day hug. But she was quickly proved wrong when her father swiftly jerked his leg upwards, hitting the Doctor in the crotch. The Doctor's cry of pain was masked by the collective intake of breath, and he fell doubled up to the floor as Rory let him go.

"Daddy!" Melody moaned. Rory ignored her complaint, stepping backwards.

"If you ever do that again, I won't hesitate in making sure that you-know-who will never be born. Is that clear?" he growled. The Doctor, who was still rolling around in agony on the ground, nodded.

"Yes…" he murmured, his voice having been taken away with his breath.

"Good." Rory said flatly, watching the Time Lord for a few more seconds before turning on his heel and pushing through the small crowd. With that, most of the audience decided that it was unwise to hang around, and so they swiftly dispersed.

Melody hesitated, standing still over her husband's figure. She was indescribably embarrassed. Did she want to comfort him, to check that he was OK? Did she even want to be seen with him right now? She was torn. It shouldn't have been such a hard decision to make; she was his wife and she loved him, so of course she should help him. But this was their wedding day. Any other day, the damage done wouldn't have been so bad. The Doctor was always embarrassing in one way or another; it was just the way he worked. But this? This was a whole new level.


	29. The Sexy Mermaid Bride

**Note to readers: A long-ish chapter to reward you, my chummies, for waiting for so long! A bit of a surprise, this one, a twist that not even I expected in my little pea-brain. The red dress is based on a drawing that one of my best friends did of a young River. So, yeah, I might have stolen that... if she posts it on tumblr, I will post you all a link, because it's really amazing! Please tell me what you think; reviews make me happy!**

Sighing, the young Pond knelt down next to him.

"Doctor? Are you alright?" she asked quietly. He only groaned, rocking slightly as he lay on his side, facing towards her. She swept his hair from his eyes, running her fingers along his jaw bone and wiping the trail of blood away. Melody looked up. Everyone around them was making it painfully obvious that they were trying to pretend that the bride and groom were not on the floor. Luckily for them, it wasn't greatly difficult, seeing as they were to the side of the room. Also, Jack had chivalrously decided that he would get twice as drunk, so as to draw attention from the Doctor. Melody couldn't help but smile as the ex-con man began doing some kind of dance which involved a lot of thrusting and general hip movements.

But she quickly turned back to the Doctor as his pain seemed to subdue.

"Doctor you made an idiot out of yourself. And you made an idiot out of me. In front of all of our friends." She said, trying to supress her anger.

"I know." He groaned, "I'm so, so sorry."

"You say sorry a lot." She said bluntly, "But did it ever occur to you that sorry doesn't do anything? That sorry is just another word?" The Doctor's eyes opened properly and he focused on Melody's face.

"I know… I'm…" he mumbled, clearly becoming more sober by the second.

"Sorry?" she finished for him. He sat up gradually looking at her guiltily. She didn't like being horrible to him, but he would have to learn the rules one day. With marriage came responsibility. With marriage came consequences. And consequences that could avoid the difficulties of both time and space. They would catch up with him, unlike so many other things.

She stood up and he immediately followed.

"Fortunately for you, it's getting late and we probably have an excuse to leave now. That way, you can't embarrass us any further." Melody said. The Doctor nodded, following her as she made her way over to her parents. As much as she was angry at him, this was their wedding night and she didn't want to ruin it. She hated that she could never remain angry at him for very long. Approaching Amy and Rory, she put on a convincing smile and linked arms with the Doctor, who also seemed to sense the importance of putting on a united front, "We're going to… take off."

"Take – take off?" Rory stuttered in shock. Amy swiftly elbowed him in the ribs.

"OK, sweetie." She replied, pulling Melody into a hug and whispering in her ear, "Don't be scared, alright? Because here's a spoiler for you: he's a real sucker for a bad girl. If you take charge it's very likely he'll never possess the urge to see the sun again." Melody giggled, pulling back and nodding as her mother gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Melody Pond: my superhero."

Once she had let go of her daughter, Amy went on to hug the Doctor too. But she couldn't hear the conversation going on between them, as Rory enveloped her in a proper daddy hug.

"Have a nice time, Melody. Please don't do anything stupid; you inherited that tendency from your mother. Just… know that Daddy loves you." He snivelled, kissing her forehead fiercely.

"I love you too, Daddy." She replied, holding back her tears. Rory didn't bother giving the Doctor a hug; he only clapped him on the shoulder, forcing some kind of half-smile.

"Don't do anything you don't want to do, Melody." The centurion said sternly and pointedly.

"I won't." Melody replied, hoping that that would be the end of the conversation. But her father had other ideas.

"And remember, the best kind of sex can be not having any." He said seriously. Amy snorted.

"Yeah right, like they're going to listen to you. You got me pregnant on our wedding night." She said, turning from her dismayed husband to the couple before her, "Be safe, though."

"Of course." The Doctor replied when Melody didn't. She was mortified. She could feel her cheeks burning. It was like being thirteen all over again. How. Embarrassing.

They walked in near silence back down the hill after saying goodbye to everyone else. Melody was still in shock after their encounter with her parents. She knew that she should probably be in a strop with her husband, but she still couldn't bring herself to ruin their wedding day.

"I can't believe that just happened." She said finally as the ground began levelling out. The Time Lord laughed.

"They're only human; they can't help it." He said, hip-bumping her comfortingly. She half-smiled.

"But still… what on earth were they thinking?" she muttered.

"Don't you mean, what on Domicilia?" the Doctor joked as they reached the TARDIS. Before they went in, Melody reached out her arm and stopped him.

"I'm still mad at you, Doctor." She said suddenly. He looked down as if he were a naughty school boy expecting a reprimand. But Melody continued, "But I'm not going to spoil our day." He snapped his head up hopefully, an irrepressible grin on his face. She tried to give him a stern look to show him that he wasn't completely off the hook, but the Doctor just clicked his fingers and the TARDIS door swung open. Melody sighed and was about to step inside when she was unexpectedly swept off her feet and carried in. She squealed, wrapping her arms around the Time Lord's shoulders as he walked through the doors and shut them with his leg once they were both clear of the threshold. Melody closed her eyes, giggling as he carried her further into the depths of the TARDIS. She had no clue where he was taking her, but he wasn't exactly wasting much time in getting there. Soon enough, she heard a door slide open. She felt herself being carried across the room.

Suddenly, he let her go. She screamed, but the gesture was cut short when her back made contact with something soft. She opened her eyes quickly. She was on a bed. His bed, to be precise. The Doctor was bent over her, his left knee on the bed whilst his right foot stayed firmly on the floor. He went to kiss her but she dodged out of his way and stood up, backing away from her confused husband.

"Melody, are you alright?" he asked, standing up properly and stepping towards her. The young Pond shook her head.

"What did you think you were doing?" she asked, her voice a mere whisper. The Time Lord frowned.

"It's our wedding night." He said gently, "I was just-"

"Is this why you married me?" she cried suddenly. The Doctor froze, an alarmed look of concern on his face, "You married me so that you could bed me! You sick man!"

"What – no!" he exclaimed loudly, "Melody, I would never even dream of doing something like that. I thought… I thought that this was what you wanted." At this, the Time Lord indicated to the bed. Melody hadn't even noticed the décor of the room that they were in. The four poster bed was made of Elm wood and the duvet was sky blue. A rug was folded at the foot of the bed, embroidered star constellations and Gallifreyan symbols stitched into it. The rest of the room was fairly plain.

"Is this your room?" she asked timidly, suddenly very aware of what they were now 'expected' to do.

"Yes." The Doctor replied shortly. When Melody didn't reply his concern increased, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I just… I need a minute." Melody said shakily, pointing to a door in the right wall, "Is this the bathroom?" The Doctor nodded and Melody quickly excused herself.

Locking the door behind her, Melody almost collapsed across the sink. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God! The young Pond violently shook her head. No, she should be strong and dominant like her mother said to be… Wait, so now she was taking sex advice from her mother. Melody groaned. How could this situation get any worse? Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Melody, are you OK in there?" the Doctor called, his question muffled by the door.

"Fine, just… freshening up." She attempted to reply brightly. She heard him mumbled something and move away. Looking into the mirror, Melody could see the fear in her own eyes. She lifted her hand to adjust her hair but found it nearly impossible to do as she was shaking like an earthquake. Repeating her mother's words of parting comfort, Melody stepped into the bedroom again.

She found the Doctor lying on the bed, his blazer discarded somewhere. He lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling in his shirt, trousers and loosened tie. But she didn't approach him; she only hovered by the door.

"Do I change?" she said suddenly, capturing his attention. The Time Lord pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Do you what?" he asked in confusion.

"Do I change into something else or do I keep this on?" she replied, indicating to her wedding dress.

"As much as I love the dress," the Doctor began, looking his wife up and down hungrily, "I would hate to get it ruined." Melody nodded.

"So, what do I wear?" she asked nervously.

"Whatever you want." He said. She could think of no more questions to postpone what was inevitable so she only continued to stand by the doorway, trying to pull herself together. The Doctor, sensing her unease, sat up properly, "Melody, it doesn't really matter what you wear, because we're going to be taking it off anyway."

He'd probably meant that as a joke, and his small smile definitely strengthened that belief. But Melody couldn't help but feel that she was about to burst into hysterics at any second. Soon, big salty tears began running down her cheeks.

"No, no! Don't cry!" the Doctor said, jumping off the bed and rushing to sweep her into his arms comfortingly. He rocked her slightly as she snivelled into his shoulder. She heard him sigh, "Melody, if you're not ready for this, you have to say; I won't know unless you tell me!" The wise Time Lord pulled his wife far enough away so that he could look into her eyes and continue tenderly, "I love you, and forcing you to do something you're not happy with would be like… renouncing my vows. And I would never do that."

"You'll wait?" Melody asked tentatively, wiping her eyes. The Doctor smiled.

"I'll wait." He agreed, hugging her tightly again. But she pushed him away.

"No. I want this. I do. I want to do this." Melody was sure that she sounded like she was convincing herself, more than she was convincing him, but it seemed to work. Whenever she put her mind to something, she always pulled through. Her husband grinned widely, stepping back as she backed her way to the first door, with the intention of getting changed.

"Then go and get changed, you sexy thing!" he cried excitedly. Melody froze, absolutely petrified by her spouse's sudden outburst. He too seemed momentarily stunned, before noticing the fear in her eyes, "No sorry, that was too far. So, so sorry." But the young Pond only forced a smiled and left the room.

It took her less than a minute to find one dress that she wanted to wear. It fit her perfectly; a tight scarlet dress, the bottom of it fanning out like the tail of a mermaid. It made her feel more confident in herself. And so with that in mind, and the sexy mermaid bride look mastered, Melody Pond went back to the bedroom.

"What do you think?" she asked the Doctor, slipping into the room. She smiled as his jaw nearly dropped straight off. He stuttered incoherently, and after a while he just settled for nodding silently whilst his eyes eagerly studied his wife's perfect form.

She made her way to the bed, rather pleased with his reaction and she even gave him a quick twirl to highlight the way it clung to her skin perfectly.

"Come here." He suddenly said. Melody's heart faltered on a colossal scale and she was pretty sure that the reason she was unable to move was because she was currently having a large heart attack. Ignoring this, the Time Lord moved in a trance-like state from his bed and began running his fingers over her body. Looking into her eyes, he asked gently, "Are you ready?" Without hesitation, Melody nodded, allowing him to kiss her gently. Hm, so maybe this wasn't so bad. He was being gentle. He wasn't rushing anything. In fact, you would've thought that they had all the time in the -

Melody's thoughts were suddenly cut off. She had felt his fingers running along her back, but she hadn't expected her dress to suddenly slip off her shoulders. When did he even unzip it? When she opened her eyes she also noticed that, somehow, he was now tie-less, and his shirt was completely unbuttoned. Damn, that man could undress slyly. So Melody Pond was now standing in her underwear. But she wasn't standing for long. The Doctor swiftly picked her up and gently set her down on the bed. He quickly set about kissing almost every visible inch of her body, littering her with delicate little kisses.

But Melody was panicking too much to even accept that this was incredibly romantic. Presumably the kissing and the undressing rituals were meant to be sexy, but all she could think of was 'oh God, I'm going to lose my virginity'. But hadn't that been what she had set out to do in the first place: sleep with the one man that she was going to love forever? What was wrong with her? Suddenly she felt a hand slip down her side and finger her underwear. But she didn't have time to think about it before a loud snapping sound resonated around the room.

Melody looked up to see her hand poised in the air and an already reddening mark on the Doctor's cheek. He backed away quickly, climbing off the bed as she sat up. She was in as much shock as he clearly was. She'd just slapped him. She'd just slapped her own husband for trying to take her knickers off. Oh. Sweet. Lord. The hurt on his face was too much to bear.

"Doctor, I- " she started. But he stopped her.

"You don't have to say anything, Melody. I know you're not ready. If you want, I'll sleep in another room tonight." He said, looking down at his feet. They stayed in a tense silence. After a while, Melody crawled out of bed, taking the shirt from his shoulders and putting it on herself. He watched her with a perplexed expression as she took his hand and pulled back the covers, letting both of them slip beneath them. She pushed him down onto the mattress and wrapped her arms around him, lying across his chest. With a sigh, he extended his arms and enveloped her in a protective hug.

They said nothing more, just letting each other's presence send them into a well-earned sleep.


	30. The Morning After

**Note to readers: So, as promised, this is the link to the drawing I based Melody's red mermaid dress on: thetimeofangels(dot)tumblr(dot)com/post/8684680275/a-young-river-song-melody-pond. Just replace the (dot)s with an actual dot. Ellie is an amazing artist and a huge Whovian, so follow her blog on tumblr! You can find me under the same name as on here. In other news, I've been a little under the weather recently, and so have not been writing much. But don't worry, in truly British fashion I am ploughing through and sitting at computer with a bucket at my side. Also, RIVER IS BACK NEXT CHAPTER! Never have I been so happy. Ever. So, enjoy!**

The morning after was strangely not as awkward as expected. They both woke up in each other's arms. The Doctor woke slightly before Melody, and so had time to just watch her sleep. Playing with her curls was very familiar to him and quite calming. When she had woken up they went straight to the kitchen. They ate breakfast in relative silence. It wasn't an awkward silence as such, but it wasn't exactly a relaxing environment. They then made a joint decision to visit the Ponds before going on their honeymoon.

But all the while, the Doctor couldn't help but remember how humiliating the night before had been. He'd never, or rarely, been turned down like that. He always waited for the right moment and he never put any pressure on his partner. So to be rejected like that for the first time in almost a millennium… he was pretty much scarred. Of course, he understood why she did it; it wasn't to hurt him, it was just because she didn't feel ready. And the Doctor appreciated that. He too couldn't help but feel that there was something missing, something not quite right.

But he didn't get why she had slapped him. She could have just stopped him and said no. But slapping him? It was a little unreasonable, especially as he was being very gentle with her. He'd been extremely proud of himself for toning everything down. It had been… several years since his last intimate encounter with River Song and he had definitely been looking forward to his wedding night. But he had kept himself in check very effectively. He didn't understand what he had done wrong.

Landing the TARDIS, the Time Lord forced himself to focus and pushed his insecurities aside. He smiled at his wife and pulled the door open. They stepped out into the Ponds' back garden. The Doctor sniffed the air. Yup, they were on Domicilia. It wasn't long before he spotted Amy running out of the door and straight into his arms. He couldn't help but grin at how happy she was to see him. Rory hung around in the background a little, greeting his daughter with a reserved manner. It didn't make sense to the Doctor, but he breezed over it.

"How long has it been since the wedding?" the Doctor asked Amy, the more responsive of the two.

"It's the morning after now." She answered. Now Rory's mood made sense.

"Ah." The Time Lord replied, throwing an apologetic glance to his father-in-law.

"Why? How far along is this for you?" The Scot said suspiciously.

"It's the same for us." The Doctor said, adding with a proud laugh, "I've landed on the right day."

"For once." Melody muttered. The Time Lord was about to make a retort when Amy interrupted.

"Come inside." She said, taking her daughter's hand and pulling her towards the house.

That left Rory and the Doctor stood awkwardly out in the garden.

"So… this is the morning after the wedding for you too?" Rory asked gingerly.

"Yes. Yes, it is." The Time Lord replied simply.

"So, you've…" the centurion began. The Doctor frowned at him.

"I've…?" he repeated stupidly.

"You've spent the night together?" Rory finished, grimacing as if he didn't actually want the answer.

"Well, yes." The Doctor said. He watched with curiosity as his friend almost convulsed at his reply. What was wrong with that man today?

"That's disgusting." The centurion muttered.

"What's disgusting?" The Doctor asked innocently.

"You slept with my daughter!" Rory cried suddenly, flinging his arms up into the air in exasperation.

"What? No! God no." the Time Lord argued. Rory just glared at him, letting the pair fall into stony silence. Sighing, the Doctor continued, "If you really must know, she wouldn't even let me take her knickers off." Rory blinked at him, clearly trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or whether he was just making it all up.

"What." He finally said.

"I've never been so humiliated." The Doctor snapped, running his fingers through his hair.

"And you're talking to me about it?" Rory asked in obvious disbelief.

"No." the Doctor retorted bluntly, "I'm just being truthful."

The centurion began to laugh a little. The Doctor glared at him in annoyance.

"Melody wouldn't sleep with you." He chuckled, "I didn't think she'd actually take my advice." The Time Lord snorted.

"Don't flatter yourself. She didn't 'take your advice'. She stopped me because she didn't feel ready." He said. Rory's face fell slightly, but he still managed to look very pleased with himself. Gradually the smile returned to his face. Unable to supress the feeling that he was being laughed at, the Doctor pouted and turned away, making his way grumpily into the house. Why did he get the feeling that this incident would hang over his head forevermore?

As soon as he stepped into the house, the Time Lord could hear muttering coming from the living room. Putting his finger to his lips, he indicated to Rory to be quiet and tiptoed further inside until he was standing right against the door. He leant his ear against the wood and listened carefully to the conversation. But he couldn't hear much as the centurion made a comment from behind him.

"We're not seriously going to listen in, are we? Don't you think that that's stooping a bit too low, even for you, Doctor?" Rory hissed in his ear. The Time Lord simply waved a lazy hand in his face and concentrated on the voices, rather than Rory's disgruntled mutterings.

"I don't know what happened!" the Doctor heard Melody cry, "I was so sure that I wanted to go through with it. I thought it was just nerves, but…" The rest of her sentence was drowned in frustrated sobs, and Amy shushed her gently.

"Sweetie, it's alright not to be ready." Amy said, "It happens to the best of us."

"But I know I'm ready!" Melody complained, her voice slightly muffled, as if she were tangled in an embrace, "I just… I don't understand what went wrong." There was a pause in the conversation as Amy muttered words of comfort to her distraught daughter.

After a few moments, Melody spoke again.

"Do you think it's my name?" she mumbled.

"What?" Amy asked.

"I get the feeling that he's not comfortable with calling me Melody." The young girl replied sadly. The Doctor's heart leapt. He could feel Rory's eyes burning the back of his skull and the hallway was suddenly very hot and clammy.

"Of course he's not." Amy replied truthfully, "To him, Melody is the baby girl that he first met one month after she was born, and not long afterwards, found out that one day she would be River Song. You have to understand that this is just as hard for him, if not harder. He knows what you're going to become and he knows the future you. But he's constantly plagued by the thought that, if he does something wrong, he could ruin everything and create a paradox. Imagine having that hanging over your head every day.

"But he still loves you, Melody. And he always will. He's just waiting for you to change your name."

"But why hasn't he told me this? Why didn't he just say?" the young Pond exclaimed. Amy laughed.

"Melody, men don't talk about their feelings." She said, "And maybe he's just doing it subconsciously. There's only one way to find out."

"Talk to him?" Melody suggested. Her mother only laughed again. Lowering her voice, the Scot spoke. The Doctor strained to hear what was being said, but he soon found that it was hopeless. Huffing quietly, the Time Lord turned to his friend. Rory had a look of amused wonder on his face as he studied the man before him. Shifting uncomfortably, the Doctor straightened his bow-tie and knocked on the living room door.

He poked his head around just in time to see his wife wiping her eyes furiously and plastering a forced smile across her face.

"Come on Melody!" he cried cheerily, "If we don't get going soon the queue for the log flume will be hours long." Not even waiting for a reply, the spritely Time Lord dashed out of the door, quickly pursued by his wife, who he could hear muttering "But we have a time machine…" Ignoring her comment, and deciding that it was best to pretend to be as lively as ever, he bid his parents-in-law a rushed farewell and made his way into the TARDIS.

Melody watched him with surprise and curiosity, sitting herself on the chair. The Time Lord leapt about the console, steering them towards the watery planet of Morbel. Hopefully, their honeymoon would go better than the wedding.


	31. Morbel

**Note to readers: See my video; there was too much to write and you would get bored. Not that you won't with this. But whatever. Type in this link replacing the '(dot)'s with actual dots: www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=5JeTKlA4WY8. Or YouTube search luvergirlscarer101 and it'll be the latest video on my channel. Thank you!  
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Stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor threw his hands in the air.

"Morbel! Home to the biggest log flume in the galaxy!" he explained to his wife, who had poked her head out of the blue box only moments after him. Establishing that it was safe and wasn't host to giant grizzly bears with venomous tail stings like the last planet they had accidentally landed on, Melody emerged fully from the TARDIS, garbed in a thin white cotton dress and sandals. Realising that she looked a little under impressed, the Doctor continued, "There are fifty different themed stations here, more than two thousand visiting species, and over six hundred varieties of water."

"I thought water was just… water." Melody muttered as she looked around the station that they were in now.

"Well, water, poisonous acid; same thing really. It just depends on what species you are and whether certain substances dissolve your vital organs." The Time Lord muttered under his breath, surveying his immediate surroundings.

"What?" Melody asked.

"Never mind! But stay close to me all the same." The Doctor cried cheerfully, stepping back to wrap his arm around his wife's shoulders, "Look for a sign that says 'homo sapiens'."

"Doctor, what theme is this station meant to be?" Melody asked, indicating to the scene before her. Her husband grinned triumphantly.

"The Roman Empire!" he cried, stepping aside to fumble through the depths of his inside pockets, "Which is why I brought… this!"

And with that comment his whipped a hat from his jacket and plonked it on his head, a childish grin falling across his face as he turned to Melody, "What do you think?"

"OK, one: how did you fit that in your pocket? And two: is that a roman legionary helmet?" she asked in disbelief.

"Cool, isn't it." The Doctor agreed, looking to the rest of the station. It was basically just a water park, with a roman theme. The station itself was enclosed in a huge glass dome, the starry sky outside clearly visible. Cars and various other methods of transport zoomed across the outside of the bubble, heading for different stations that could be seen on the surface of the planet. The Time Lord turned expectantly back to his wife, who was now grinning widely. This was looking set to be the best honeymoon that time had ever seen.

They spent hours running around the station, exploring every inch of its surface. The Doctor had to rescue Melody from nearly stepping into several pools that contained dangerous acids and venoms. And keeping her from being kidnapped by many curious onlookers was a full time job as well. But they had great fun, and they were thoroughly wet through to the bone by the time that they booked into a room and completely collapsed onto the bed.

Melody turned on her side to face the Doctor.

"You'd better get those clothes off or you'll catch a cold." She commented sitting up and running her fingers through her wet hair. He watched her, mumbling some sort of agreement. He was really more interested in the way that the droplets of water fell from her blonde curls and ran down her back. Noticing that he was staring, Melody blushed slightly and stood up. She rummaged around in her hurriedly packed suitcase and pulled a few things out, wrapping them in a towel so that the Doctor couldn't see what they were.

He dismissed the action willingly and sat up, taking his jacket off and hanging on the back of the chair at the end of the bed.

"I'm just going to freshen up." Melody stated, walking into the en-suite bathroom, "Then I have something for us to do afterwards." The Time Lord smiled, mulling over the innuendo in his head. Childishly amused by this, he continued peeling off layers of clothing, his bow-tie, his shirt and his trousers, until he was stood in his underwear in the middle of the room. Frowning, the Doctor looked through his few possessions. Clearly he hadn't thought to pack another pair. Shrugging this off, he moved on to search for his hat.

He found it discarded by the side of the bedside table, and immediately returned it to its rightful place on his head. With his back to the bed, the Time Lord observed the people walking past outside, happily going about their business, most of them on holiday. Suddenly, there was a loud, purposeful cough from behind him and the Doctor spun to see what the reason for that sound had been.

He very nearly dropped dead at the sight before him. Melody was standing, leant against the door of the bathroom, a very River-esque grin haunting her features. But that wasn't what shocked him. It was the fact that she was hardly wearing a thing. OK, so she was wearing a bra, knickers and fishnet stockings, but that was it. As he took in her figure with an open mouth, the Doctor noticed something unusual.

"Is that… a gun?" he stammered, his voice hardly working as he pointed to the holster on her hips.

"Yes, it is." She replied simply, beginning to walk across the room towards him. He shuffled backwards, focusing on the gun as he tried desperately to find a distraction from his wife's body.

"You know I don't approve of guns." He said nervously. She stopped about five metres from him and took the weapon from its cover.

"Please take the hat off." She said suddenly. Instantly, the Doctor became defensive.

"No!" he argued, tugging the flaps on the side, "Helmets are cool."

"Sweetie, take it off or I'll take it from you." Melody threatened.

"Never." The Time Lord protested, scowling as he pulled the hat further over his eyes. She studied his face for a while.

"Fine." She said, lowering the gun and lulling him into a false sense of security. Dubiously, he let go of the helmet and lowered his hands too. Swinging his arms nervous about his sides, the Doctor looked about frantically for a diversion.

With a sudden bang, the hat flew from his head.

"You killed it!" the Doctor cried mournfully, indicating to the mangled remains of the hat behind him, "And that was your father's hat too." She shrugged.

"That hat would've looked hideous on anyone." She replied offhandedly, walking towards the bed, and towards her husband, "Now call me River." The Doctor blinked.

"Wha – what? No." he stammered, utterly confused by his wife's sudden change of face.

"Do it." She growled. Shaking his head, he pressed himself against the wall beside the bed.

"No, stop it." He said weakly, turning his head as she leant in to him.

"Say my name." she whispered. Her breath tickled his neck and he closed his eyes, attempting to keep the upper hand, which, it was fair to say, he had already all but lost.

"M-Melody. Melody Pond." He stuttered, his voice breaking somewhat as he shut his eyes tighter.

"Call me River." She repeated. He whimpered slightly as she bit at his ear lobes.

"No." he argued.

"Say it." She repeated, "Just say it."

"No – I – don't…" he mumbled, becoming slightly side-tracked as she ran her tongue along his neck.

"Tell me to stop." she teased, "Use my name." She smiled against his cheek, running her hands down his bare chest as he heard the gun clatter to the floor. Suddenly, it all became too much to bear.

"River, stop it!" he cried. They both stopped moving and the Doctor opened his eyes. He looked at his wife. She was River. She had been all along. And he just hadn't seen it. She smiled as she recognised the change in his expression.

"Hello sweetie."


	32. Allons Y!

So, just letting you know that '**The Paradox Girl**' is moving!

Ha ha, you thought this was a new chapter, didn't you? Ha ha ha. Sorry, that was mean.

Anyway, psychopathic tendencies aside, I've decided to start a 'new' story, carrying on from this one. And I shall call it… '**Good Wizards In Fairy Tales**'. Scoot on over to my profile and it shall be lurking somewhere beneath my ugly mug.

Things it shall include:

**1)** Doctor/River adventures and mishaps

**2)** River's pregnancy and complications ensuing

**3)** Perhaps snippets of Merry's childhood

**4) _ANYTHING YOU BLOODY ASK FOR_**, because I'm nice like that and if you suggest something I am more than willing to give it a shot. I know I may seem like I eat people, but I don't. That's just my mane of hair.

So feel free to email me or comment on this chapter with ideas or general hate.

But **thank you** for being so patient with me, I really appreciate it and I love you all! Writing is helping me through a difficult time and it's nice that other people are able to enjoy the fruits of my psychological pain. Murky bucket, chaps.


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